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VEGETABLE  DIET 


IN 


CONSUMPTION,  SCROFULA,  CANCER,  ASTHMA, 


AND  OTHER  CHRONIC  DISEASES. 


IN  WHICH  THK   ADVANTAGES  OF  PURE   SOFT  WATER  OVER  THAT  WHICH  IS  HARD  AXS 

FABTICULARLY   CONSIDKRED  ;     TOGETHER   WITH    A   GREAT    VARIETY  fit 

rACTS  AND  ARGUMENTS  SHOWING  THE  SUPERIORITY  OF  THK 

FABINACEA   AND   FRUITS    TO    ANIMAL    FOOD 

IN  THE  PRESERVATION  OF  HEALTH. 


BY  WILLIAM  LAMBE,  M.  D. 

T'»L*'OW    OF   THE    ROYAL    COLLEGE    OF    PHYSICIANS    OF    LONDON, 


WITH  NOTES  AND  ADDITIONS, 

BY  JOEL  SHEW,  M.  D. 


J5'eta    gork: 

FOWLERS  AND  WELLS,  131  NASSAU  STREET, 

AND  142  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON. 

1854. 


'  AC- 


/A-: 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Conjjress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

FOWLERS  ANI   WELLS, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


The  work  which  is  here  presented  to  the  American  public,  wus 
first  published  in  London,  under  date  of  1815,  with  the  title  "Ad- 
ditional Reports  on  the  Effects  of  a  Peculiar  Regimen  in  Cases  of 
Cancer,  Scrofula,  Consumption,  Asthma,  and  other  Chronic  Dis- 
eases." I  have  thought  better  to  change  this  name  to  that  of 
"  Water  and  Vegetable  Diet  in  Consumption,  Scrofula,  Cancer. 
Asthma,  and  other  Chronic  Diseases,"  as  being  more  expressive  of 
the  true  character  of  the  work.  I  place  consumption  fust  in  the 
list  of  diseases,  because  of  its  greater  frequency  and  importance. 
The  new  title  will,  I  am  confident,  be  more  apt  to  attract  the  eye 
of  casual  observers  than  the  old  one,  which  consideration  is  plainly 
a  matter  that  should  be  looked  to  in  this  day  of  many  books. 

I  have  also,  in  the  following  work,  changed  many  of  the  techni- 
cal or  scientific  terras  to  such  as  will  be  better  understood  by  the 
generality  of  readers.  Numerous  typographical  errors,  and  some 
other  mistakes,  which  had  crept  into  the  London  edition,  I  have  also 
corrected.  I  have  likewise  taken  the  liberty  of  omitting  many  of  the 
marginal  references  of  the  former  edition,  references  which  were, 
for  the  most  part,  made  either  to  works  that  are  not  accessible  to 
American  readers,  or  to  those  of  foreign  languages,  which  also  are 
not  here  to  be  obtained.  By  making  these  omissions  (which  I  con- 
sider does  not  at  all  depreciate  the  value  of  the  work),  it  has  been 
brought  into  a  smaller  space  than  it  otherwise  could  have  been,  and 
is,  as  a  consequence,  afforded  at  a  lower  price.  The  notes  and 
additions  which  l.have  made  in  the  body  of  the  work,  will  be  re- 
cognized by  the  latter  initial  of  my  name. 

That  the  '*  Vegetarian  diet,"  (as  it  is  now  called  in  England,  and 
of  which  there  are  many  followers  in  that  country,)  is  destined  to 
do  yet  a  vast  amount  of  good  in  the  prevention  and  cure  of  disease, 
in  the  United  States,  I  confidently  believe.  I  feel  myself  too 
thankful  for  the  great  benefit  I  have  received  by  adopting  it  for  the 
most  part  during  a  period  of  nine  years,  to  remain  silent  on  the 
subject. 

Many  in  this  country  have  indeed  already  found  great  relief  and, 
jd  not  a  few  instancoa,  a  perfect  cure,  by  the  adoption  of  vegetable 


290S49 


iv  PREFACE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    EDITION. 

regimen.  A  great  number  have  also  made  shipwreck  of  the  matter, 
so  to  say,  and  have  in  the  end  gone  from  bad  to  worse,  and  so  as  a 
consequence  have  got  no  good.  It  is  very  common  to  find  persons 
who  tell  us  that  some  years  ago,  after  they  had  suffered  much  in 
the  way  of  indigestion,  constipation,  and  the  like,  they  commenced 
the  vegetable  regimen,  and  apparently  at  first  with  the  most  bene- 
ficial results.  At  length,  however,  they  found  that  they  grew 
worse,  and  that  on  again  returning  to  the  use  of  flesh  meat,  they 
improved.  Now  I  think  that  in  most  of  these  cases  there  has 
been  manifest  error  in  the  method  of  the  experiment.  Thus  the 
individual  was  at  first  careful  in  regard  to  every  thing  relating  to  both 
quality  and  kind  of  food ;  at  length,  however,  feeling  an  increase 
of  tone  and  vigor  in  the  digestive  organs,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
great  improvement  in  the  keenness  of  appetite  and  relish  for  food, 
he  took,  insensibly  and  by  degrees,  to  overdoing  in  quantity ;  a 
practice  which  it  should  ever  be  remembered  is  a  violation  of  the 
most  important  of  all  dietetic  rules.  In  the  use  of  saccharine  mat- 
ter especially,  have  the  "  Vegetarians"  committed  error  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  far  better  to  partake  of  a  proper  meal  of 
plain  vegetables  and  flesh  meat  than  to  eat  a  variety  of  rich,  concen 
trated,  and  highly  sweetened  articles,  as  many  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  doing. 

"  Vegetarianism"  has  hitherto  been  presented  to  Americans  as 
a  means  of  j^'i" eventing  rather  than  of  curing  disease.  This  work, 
then,  brings  the  matter  up  in  a  new  aspect.  And  surely  any 
method,  however  simple  it  may  be,  which  promises  any  rehef 
whatever,  in  so  grave  maladies  as  those  of  which  it  treats,  merits 
the  candid  consideration  of  every  friend  of  his  race. 

The  perusal  of  this  work  will  lead  many,  doubtless,  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  if  such  striking  benefits  as  are  here  described  are  to 
be  gained  by  attention  to  diet  alone,  how  much  greater  may  we 
not  look  for  in  combining  the  water -treatment  with  the  course 
pointed  out.  I  therefore  recommend  that  all  who  make  the  experi- 
ment of  vegetable  diet,  pursue  at  the  same  time  a  course  of  bathing, 
with  an  observance  of  good  hygienic  habits  generally,  such  as  are 
recommended  in  water-cure.  The  experiment  will  thus  be  much 
easier  borne;  and  its  benefits  rendered  greater. 

JOEL   SHEW. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  LONDON  EDITION. 


In  offering  to  the  public  these  ''Additional  Reports,"  I  fulfill  the 
resolution  I  announced,  when  I  published  my  "Reports  on  Cancer," 
of  continuing  to  present  to  the  public  what  X  should  think  most  in- 
teresting and  important  on  the  same  subject.  It  will  be  seen  that 
many  of  the  facts,  which  I  now  bring  forward,  have  been  in  my 
possession,  even  for  a  series  of  years;  and  I  have  felt  no  small  re- 
pugnance at  suffering  them  to  remain  useless  to  myself  and  others. 
To  withhold  from  society  fects  regarding  health,  is  a  sort  of  felony 
against  the  common  rights  of  human  nature.  But  I  have  found 
that  little  good  is  to  be  done  by  producing  solitary  cases.  I  have, 
therefore,  deferred  this  publication  till  I  could  obtain  a  body  of  facts 
concurring  to  the  same  end;  and  which,  I  hope,  may  possess  some 
influence  upon  public  opinion.  I  was,  moreover,  anxious  to  put  the 
correctness  of  my  assertions  beyond  the  reach  of  doubt  or  suspicion. 
Circumstances  beyond  my  control  have  forced  me  to  consume 
much  more  time  than  such  an  object  really  required.  But,  having 
at  length  effected  it,  I  am  conscious  that  whatever  depends  upon 
myself  has  been  now  accomplished. 

The  statements,  which  occupy  the  first  part  of  these  sheets,  are 
drawn,  for  the  most  part,  from  very  common  sources  of  information; 
and  the  reader,  therefore,  is  not  to  look  for  any  thing  like  originality 
in  them.  But  the  inferences  from  these  statements,  though  suffi- 
ciently obvious,  are  certainly  not  duly  impressed  upon  the  minds  of 
men.  It  is  to  these,  therefore,  that  I  would  more  particularly  direct 
the  attention  of  reflecting  persons. 

I  have  purposely  avoided  in  this  work  all  refined  reasoning  about 
the  nature  of  the  matter,  which,  insinuating  itself  into  the  body  in 
unsuspected  vehicles,  undermines  its  powers,  and  lays  the  founda- 
tion of  fatal  diseases.  It  is  not  that  I  think  any  thing  which  I  have 
formerly  advanced  on  these  subjects  untenable  or  visionary.  la 
fact,  the  more  I  have  considered  the  subject,  the  more  have  I  been 
convinced  of  the  general  correctness  of  the  opinions  I  have  delivered. 
But  several  experiments  wh'ch  I  have  made  are  still  unfinished; 


VI  PREFACE. 

Other  employment,  particularlj'-  the  attention  due  to  this  pvblication, 
having  occupied  my  time.  When  I  have  completed  the  inquiries 
in  which  I  am  engaged,  I  shall  pi'obably  publish  them  in  a  separate 
form.  This  may  be  more  useful  than  blending  matters  more  strictly 
scientific  with  things  designed  for  the  general  reader  and  common 
utility. 

I  may  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  I  believe  I  have  spoken 
too  hastily,  when  I  said,  in  the  following  work,  that  in  certain  very 
healthy  situations,  "  probabl}^  not  a  tenth  part  of  those  born,"  die 
before  tw^o  years  of  age.  It  rather  appears  by  bills  of  mortality, 
that  even  in  those  places  where  the  general  health  is  so  good,  that 
one  half  the  born  live  to  mature  age,  still  the  great  mass  of  mortality 
is  in  very  early  life.  This  error,  however,  does  not  materially  in- 
fluence the  reasoning  of  the  text. 

The  testimonies,  which  I  have  received  from  several  conespon- 
dents,  give  me  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  my  former  attempts 
to  direct  mankind  to  the  consideration  of  regimen  have  not  been 
wholly  lost.  It  would  have  better  suited  with  my  habits  of  feeling, 
to  have  suppressed  the  expressions  of  kindness  contained  in  some 
of  them,  that  are  merely  personal.  But  I  have  thought  it  impro- 
per to  withhold  what  conveys,  perhaps,  the  most  lively  image  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  writers.  I  have,  therefore,  given  what  has  come 
to  my  hands  without  mutilation ;  and  must  content  myself  with 
hereby  returning  my  thanks  to  the  writers  for  these  marks  of  their 
esteem.  By  the  facts  which  they  have  conveyed  to  me,  they  have 
conferred  a  considerable  obligation  on  ro  ^  ;  but  eventually,  I  believe, 
a  much  gi-eater  servie©  on  the  public. 

W.  LAMBE. 

2  King's  Road,  Bedford  Row, 
25tb  March,  1815. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Paos. 


EFfECM  of  the  Author's  former  publications. — Erroneous  estimate  of  Medical 
Practice. — Medicine  corrupted  by  vulgar  errors  and  false  Philosophy.— 
The  bases  of  Medical  Theories  hypothetical. — Diseases  the  same  at  all 
times. — The  general  doctrines  of  the  Ancients  with  regard  to  their  evi- 
dent causes. 9-21 

CHAPTER  II. 

Opinions  of  Hippocrates  concerning  Food,  and  the  use  of  Diluents  ;  that  of 
Van  Swieti;n. — General  doctrine  of  Hippocrates  on  the  etiects  of  Water. 
— Opinion  of  Hotfman  :  cf  M.  Cabanis. — Cullen's  opinion  examined.— 
Some  additional  consklc/fklions  on  Water.         -        -        -       •        -       •    21  31 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Is  Disease  essential  to  the  nature  of  man  7 — The  locality  of  particular  diseases, 
exemplified  in  remittent  and  intermittent  Fevers. — The  hypothesis  of 
LinnsBus. — Contagione,  Scurvy,  Bronchocele,  and  Cretinism. — General 
Conclusions.  -        -        •       • 31-41 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Mortality  subject  to  fixed  laws, — Erroneous  opinions  on  this  subject. — The 

artificial  nature  and  identity  of  constitutional  disease,        ....    41-54 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  power  of  Habit. — Diseases  exasperated  by  a  full  diet. — Illustrations  of  the 

beneficial  eftiects   of  abstemiousness. — Dr.  Barwick Francis   Pechi. — 

Wood,  the  miller  of  Billericay. — Apologia  du  Jeune. — Estimate  of  the  ' 
Power  of  Vegetable  Regiment 54-70 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  objections  to  vegetable  food  ;  paleness  and  loss  of  flesh  ;  that  the  feeble 
require  nourishing  diet;  differences  of  constitution;  uneasiness  from 
vegetables  ;  that  eating  flesh  injures  only  by  excess  ;  that  it  is  not  unfavor- 
able to  the  intellect ;  that  it  has  been  found  useful  in  disease. — How  far 
liking  justifies  the  practice  — Fish,  milk. — The  cookery  of  vegetables.      .    70-109 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Noxious  habits  of  slow  operation. — Erroneous  statements. — Vegetable  food 
necessary  to  a  perfect  organization. — It  is  produced  in  all  climates  habi- 
table by  man. — The  natural  progress  of  society. — The  use  of  animal  food 
a  relic  of  barbarous  manners. 103~iai 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

On  the  use  of  spirituous  and  fermented  liquors.— Spices.— Man  by  nature  not 

a  drinkin"  animal. 131-  140 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PART  II.— CASES  AND  OBSERVATIONS. 

Paox. 
Case  I. — ^Weak  Eyes,  Pimples  of  the  Skin,  Dyspepsy,  Sick  Headache,  Constipa- 
tion, Depression  of  Spirits,  and  Gout.      -.--.-  146 

Cas  e  II. — Disposition  to  Pulmonary  Consumption.            .....  161 

Case  III. — Distortion  of  the  Chest,  Pimples  of  the  Face,  General  Debility,  and 

Weak  Eyes. 163 

Case  IV. — Disposition  to  Hydrocepkslus  and  Apoplexy.           .       .       :        .  165 

Case  V. — Pulmonary  Consumption, 168 

Case  VI.— Asthma.             174 

Case  VII.— Cough,  Difficult  Breathing,  and  General  Debility.    -       -       -       -  182 

Case  VIJI.- Asthma,  Debility,  and  Loss  of  Flesh. 183 

Case  IX. — Paralysis.           -        ----..-...  185 

Case  X.— Tumor  of  the  Arm.     .                 187 

Some  Remarks  on  Scrofula.         .---.--..  igg 

Case  XI. — Scrofulous  Ulcer  of  the  Arm.           .......  195 

Case  XII.— Scrofulous  Ulcers  of  the  Neck.        .--,...  197 

Case  XIII. — Remarks  on  Cancer,  with  a  Case.         .-.-.-  199 

Case  XIV. — Rheumatism. — A  Case.           --.._...  213 

Case  XV. — Polypus  of  the  Nose,  with  Numbness  of  the  Limbs,  Giddiness,  and 

Oppression  of  the  Head.         ........  215 

Case  XVL— Miscellaneous  (From  a  Correspondent). 216 

Case  XVII.— Hypochondriasis,  Headache,  Indigestion,  Costiveness,  and  Jaun- 
dice (From  a  Correspondent).        -        .  220 

Cases  XVIII.,  XIX.,  XX.,  and  XXI.— Miscellaneous  (From  a  Correspondent).  223 

Case  XXII. — General  Debility,  Mental  Weakness,  Sleeplessness,  and  Headache 

(From  a  Correspondent).        ----.-..  225 

Case  XXIII.— Disposition  to  Pulmonary  Consumption. 227 

Case  XXIV. — Chronic  Pains  of  the  Bowels.  Bloody  Discharges,  and  Constipa- 
tion.       -- 228 

Case  XXV. — Leucorrhoea,  Fluor  Albos,  or  the  Whites.    .....  229 

Case  XXVI. — Feebleness  of  Strength.        ---.....  230 

Case  XXVII.— Hypochondriasis,  Nervous  Weakness,  and  Constipation.          .  230 

Case  XX VIII.— Difficult  Urination,  Falhng  of  the  Womb,  and  Constipation.     -  231 

Case  XXIX. — Cancer  of  the  Uterus. -.  233 

General  Dispensary— Report  of  the  Consultation  Committee.       -       -        -  237 

Remarks  on  some  Cases  of  Disease  which  have  appeared  under  the  Regimen.  238 

Appendix.— Vegetable  Diet  in  Whitestown  Seminary,  near  Utica,  N.  Y.           •  251 

Caaeof  Mr.  Burdell,  DentisJ^ofNew  York. 85{ 


VEGETABLE  DIET 


CHAPTER  I. 

Effects  of  the  writer's  farmer  publications. — Erroneous  estimate  o» 
Medical  Practice. — Medicine  corrupted  by  vulgar  errors  and  false 
philosophy. — The  bases  of  medical  theories  hypothetical. — Diseases  the 
same  at  all  times. — The  general  doctrines  of  the  ancients  with  regard 
to  their  evident  causes. 

After  a  silence  of  several  years,  I  am  at  length  enabled  to  lay- 
before  the  public  what  I  flatter  myself  will  be  considered  to  be 
a  respectable  body  of  additional  evidence  of  the  beneficial  effects 
of  that  peculiar  regimen,  which  I  proposed  for  trial  in  cases  of 
cancer,  in  the  year  1809.  Though  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
principles,  which  I  attempted  to  establish  in  the  "Reports" 
which  I  then  published,  have  gained  the  assent  of  any  consider- 
able portion  of  the  members  of  the  medical  profession,  yet  I 
have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that  my  labors  have  not  been 
wholly  in  vain.  Several  respectable  persons,  both  in  and  out 
of  the  profession,  have  been  sensible  of  the  force  of  the  reason- 
ing uised  ;  some  have  adopted  the  practice  advised  ;  and  have, 
from  their  own  experience,  publicly  recommended  it  to  others : 
nor  has  any  one  ventured  to  contradict  the  facts  which  I  ad- 
vanced ;  or  to  assert  that  the  conclusions  drawn  do  not  flow 
legitimately  from  the  premises  established.  And  I  know  that 
many  serious  and  reflecting  persons  have  had  their  attention 
excited ;  have  had  their  thoughts  turned  toward  subjects  to 
which  they  formerly  had  not  paid  the  smallest  regard ;  and  are 
looking  forward,  not  without  interest  and  anxiety,  to  the  result 
of  the  experiments  which  I  have  instituted. 

I  am,  at  the  same  time,  perfectly  aware  that  the  contempt 
and  ridicule,  with  which  the  proposal  I  made  Avas  received  in 
some  quarters,  was  immeasurable.  There  were  those  who  pro- 
fessed that  they  could  not  preserve  their  gravity  when  speaking 
or  writing  on  the  subject;  nor  were  insinuations  still  more 
1* 


10  VEGETABLE    DIET 

offensive  withheld.  This,  however,  was  no  more  than  what  I 
lycpected.  Such  is  the  natural  homage  of  littleness,  egotism, 
and  malevolence  to  a  zeal  for  truth,  and  the  best  interests  of 
mankind.  The  man  must  Uiiow  httle  of  the  workings  of  the 
human  mind,  who  concludes  that,  because  a  proposal  is  ridi- 
culed, it  is  therefore  ridiculous.  Men  often  laugh,  not  because 
there  is  a  good  joke,  but  to  conceal  some  other  secret,  and  not 
very  agreeable,  feeling.  I  doubt  not,  that  the  slave  merchant 
laughed  heartily  at  the  first  proposal  to  abolish  the  diabolical 
traffic  in  human  flesh  ;  the  sot  laughs,  who  is  advised  to  relin- 
quish drinking ;  and  we  are  informed  by  Captain  Cook  that, 
Avlien  several  of  his  people  expressed  to  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Zealand  their  abhorrence  of  the  custom  of  eating  haman  fleshy 
"  the  savages  only  laughed  at  them."  I  feel  confident,  there- 
fore, that  men  of  candor  will  not  be  too  prompt  to  decide 
whether,  in  the  present  case,  these  merry  gentlemen  laughed 
at  my  expense  or  at  their  own.* 

It  falls  not  within  the  scope  of  my  immediate  purpose  to 
examine  into  the  present  condition  of  the  medical  art.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  its  general  utility,  and  in  some  degree  of  its 
absolute  necessity  in  the  present  state  and  form  of  society.  I 
can  have  no  wish,  therefore,  to  sink  it  in  the  estimation  of  man- 
kind. But  having  made  this  avowal,  it  is  equally  obvious  that 
on  no  subject  whatever  has  there  existed  greater  fallacies  and 
delusions,  than  in  the  estimates  that  have  been  formed  of  the 
efficacy  of  medicines,  and  the  other  practices,  which  form  the 
established  routine  of  the  art.  It  would  be  a  matter  of  little 
difficulty  to  trace  to  the  fountain-head  the  source  of  these 
erroneous  opinions.  But  I  shall  content  myself  with  the  irre- 
fragable f  roof  of  the  fact. 

This  pr  "(of  may  be  readily  drawn  from  the  ever-varying  fash- 
ions which  predominate  in  the  administration  of  drugs.  It  i? 
an  observation  of  Lord  Bacon,  that  "  medicine  is  a  science  more 
professed  than  labored,  and  yet  more  labored  than  advanced ; 
the  labor  having  been,  in  my  judgment,  rather  in  circle  than  in 
progression  :  for  I  find  much  iteration,  but  small  addition." 
Though  this  remark  is  as  well  founded  at  the  present  day  as 

*  So  in  this  country,  at  the  present  day,  we  are  often  told  that  people 
have  been  made  insane  by  the  use  of  vegetable  food,  and  a  hundred  other 
silly  things  too  trifling  to  mention;  as  if  a  man  could  famish  on  brown 
bread,  potatoes,  fruits,  and  milk,  or  even  on  brown  bread  and  pure  water 
alone.  These  nonsensical  notions,  put  forth  not  unfrequently  by  men 
who,  assuming  to  be  learned,  men  even  of  the  medical  profession,  are 
destined  soon,  among  the  thinking  :lass,  to  be  reckoned  as  belonging  ouly 
to  the  delusions  of  the  past. — S. 


IN    CHROMO    LISEASES.  11 

when  it  was  made,  it  may  be  suspected  to  be  occasioned  by  the 
limits  of  the  science,  and  not  by  any  deficiency  in  its  professors 
of  activity  or  the  spirit  o*"  research.  Twenty  years  never  elapsed 
without  some  new  medicine  or  mode  of  treatment  being  pro- 
posed for  some  intractable  complaint:  great  cures  are  pub- 
lished ;  great  expectations  raised ;  the  new  methods  are  uni- 
versally tried ;  hope  is  followed  by  disappointment ;  and,  in  the 
course  of  a  very  few  years,  they  are  abandoned  and  forgotten. 
In  my  own  days,  there  have  been  the  pneumatic  gases  ;  muriate 
of  barytes  and  muriate  of  lime  in  scrofula ;  nitrous  acid  in  syph- 
ilis; digitalis  and  tobacco  in  dropsy;  digitalis  in  pulmonary 
consumption.  It  were  easy  to  enlarge  the  catalogue.  I  know 
not  whether  the  use  of  iron  in  cancer,  and  of  the  alkalis  and  ab- 
sorbents in  scrofula,  be  as  yet  extinct ;  but  it  is  easy  to  antici- 
pate their  fate.* 

I  consider  it  not  as  a  reproach,  either  to  the  proposers  or  to 
the  profession  at  large,  to  have  adopted,  for  a  time,  methods  of 
treatment  which  have  proved  useless.  But  it  is  a  pretty  sure 
index  of  the  general  feeling  with  regard  to  the  present  state  of 
medical  practice.  This  eager  research  after  new  medicines  is 
an  a<iknowledgment  that  something  more,  if  more  be  possible, 
ought  to  be  done*  for  the  relief  of  the  diseased ;  it  betrays  a 
r^estlessness  and  uneasiness  ;  a  consciousness,  that  much  of  the 
established  practice  is  either  useless  or  impotent ;  that  our  in- 
struments are  not  what  we  wish  them  to  be,  and  what  we  are 
taught  in  our  schools  to  expect  them ;  and  it  evinces  a  secret 
wish — a  very  laudable  and  benevolent  wish — that  new  and 
more  successful  methods  should  be  introduced,  or  great  im- 
provements should  be  made  upon  the  old.  And  such,  I  am 
persuaded,  is  the  feeling  of  those  who  have  devoted  themselves 
to  the  service  of  the  sick  with  the  hope  to  be  of  real  use  to 
them,  with  the  view  to  exercise  their  profession  with  honor  to 
themselves,  and  with  benefit  to  the  community. 

It  is  evident  from  the  history  of  medicine,  that  it  has,  at  no 
time,  been  established  upon  fixed  and  acknowledged  principles ; 
such  as,  being  founded  on  just  experiments,  or  a  copious  induc- 
tion of  facts,  command  the  assent  of  all  correct  reasoners.  This 
is  the  reason  that  its  doctrines  have  ever  been  a  subject  of  con- 

*  Who  does  not  know  that  medicine  as  much  as  dress  has  its  fashions. 
Thus,  for  example,  within  a  few  years,  for  the  treatment  of  consumptiou 
iodine  has  had  its  run;  afterward  wood-naptha,  and  last  of  all  cod  liver 
o-il  (the  expressed  juice  of  rotten  cod  livers),  as  vile  a  substsnice  as  can 
be  well  conceived  of.  So,  too,  I  might  mention  the  rage  for  ohloroform, 
which  is  already  fast  passing  away. — S. 


12  VEGETABLE    DIET 

tention  and  disputation.  When  the  principles  of  a  science  rest 
upon  firm  bases,  there  can  be  mo  sects  or  parties  among  those 
who  cultivate  it.  Occasional  error  may  have  crept  into  mathe- 
matical science  ;  but  there  are  no  sects  of  mathematicians.  In 
physic,  on  the  other  hand,  doctrines  have  been  fluctuating  in 
every  age ;  there  have  been  as  many  sects  as  schools  ;  and  at  this 
moment  there  are  almost  as  many  opinions  as  practitioners. 

Medicine  is  both  popular  and  scientific.  Popular  medicine  is 
practiced  in  a  certain  degree  by  the  whole  body  of  the  people, 
even  by  the  rudest  in  the  village.  Hence  it  becomes  contami- 
nated by  the  errors,  prejudices,  and  superstitions  of  the  people; 
which  must  extend,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  every  mem- 
ber of  the  community.  Physicians  can  boast  nc  exemption 
from  these  prejudices.  A  curious  example  of  their  extent  and 
power  may  be  found  in  a  well-known  and  popular  work.  It  is 
this:  When,  in  the  year  1*760,  the  King  of  Spain  determined, 
by  a  public  decree,  to  free  Madrid  from  the  abominable  custom 
of  throwing  the  ordure  out  of  the  windows  into  the  streets,  it 
was  ordered  by  a  proclamation,  that  the  proprietor  of  every 
bouse  should  build  a  proper  receptacle,  and  that  sinks,  drains, 
and  common  sewers  should  be  made  at  the  public  expense. 
^'  Every  class,"  proceeds  the  relater,  "  devised  some  objection 
against  it ;  but  the  physicians  bid  the  fairest  to  interest  the 
king  in  the  preservation  of  the  ancient  privileges  of  his  people, 
for  they  remonstrated,  that  if  the  filth  was  not  thrown  into  the 
streets  as  usual,  a  fatal  sickness  would  probably  ensue,  because 
the  putrescent  particles  of  the  air,  which  such  filth  attracted, 
would  then  be  imbibed  by  the  human  body." 

The  doctrines  of  scientific  medicine  descend  from  that  small 
body  of  educated  men,  who  give  themselves  up  to  it  as  a  pro- 
fession and  the  means  of  a  livelihood.  With  these  men  it  is  a 
branch  of  philosophical  science,  and  it,  of  course,  becomes  tinct- 
ured with  the  current  philosophical  opinions.  From  hence  it 
has  been  deformed  by  absurdities,  that  are  at  present  hardly 
credible.  Even  so  late  as  the  days  of  our  own  James  the  First, 
we  find  the  study  of  judicial  astrology  esteemed  necessary  to  a 
physician.  In  an  examination  of  a  noted  impostor  by  the  Lon- 
don College  of  Physicians,  we  find,  among  other  questions  put 
to  him,  with  the  answers  of  the  man,  the  following : 

"  Being  asked  in  astrology  what  house  he  looketh  unto  to  know 
a  disease,  or  the  event  of  it :  and  how  the  Lord  ascendant  should 
stand  thereto : 

"  He  answereth,  he  looks  for  the  sixth  house  ;  which  being 
disproved,  he  saith,  he  understands  nothing  therein  but  what 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  13 

he  hath  out  of  Caliman  ;  and  being  asked  what  books  he  hath 
read  in  that  art,  he  saith  he  hath  none  but  Caliman.'^ 

Philosophy  was,  in  its  origin,  founded  more  upon  speculation 
than  upon  observation  and  experiment.  And  as  the  first  rea- 
soners  in  medicine  were  the  philosophers,  the  principles  that 
were  thought  to  regulate  the  universe,  were,  by  them,  trans- 
ferred to  the  phenomena  of  the  human  body.  Hence  the 
errors  of  philosophy  were  engrafted  upon  physiology. 

Hippocrates  is  said  to  have  separated  medicine  from  philoso- 
phy. This  can  mean  no  more  than  that  he  was  the  first  of  the 
philosophers,  who  considered  medicine  to  be  a  distinct  branch 
of  science.  But  the  principles  which  he  adopted  to  explain 
the  causes  and  symptoms  of  diseases,  were  such  as  lie  had  been 
taught,  and  found  to  be  prevalent  in  the  schools  of  philosophy 
in  his  time. 

These  principles  were  purely  hypothetical,  being,  mostly, 
gratuitous  assumptions  with  regard  to  the  constituent  principles 
of  the  animal  frame.  The  body  was  thought  to  be  composed 
of  four  humors :  blood,  phlegm,  yellow  bile,  and  black  bile ; 
health  was  supposed  to  depend  upon  the  perfect  mixture  of 
these  humors,  each  possessed  of  its  proper  qualities ;  disease 
took  place  when  the  due  proportions  were  disturbed,  or  when 
cither  of  the  elementary  humors  was  separated,  or  not  perfectly 
mixed  with  the  common  mass. 

From  this  first  rude  notion  of  the  analysis  of  the  fluids  have 
sprung  the  division  of  temperaments  into  the  sanguineous, 
phlegmatic,  choleric,  and  melancholic,  which  is  received  at  this 
day ;  in  each  of  which  that  humor  was  thought  to  be  predom- 
inant from  which  it  receives  its  denomination. 

It  is  clear,  from  many  passages  of  the  Hippocratic  writings, 
that  Hippocrates  was  not  the  inventor  of  these  doctrines,  but 
that  they  were  the  current  opinions  of  his  times  ;  and  had  prob- 
ably existed  at  a  period  anterior  to  that  of  any  of  the  records 
of  medicine  which  have  reached  our  times.  However  hypo- 
thetical and  ill  founded  are  the  speculations  on  which  these 
doctrines  rest,  they  were  implicitly  received  by  Boerhaave  and  his 
followers  ;  nor  is  their  influence  wholly  extinguished  at  present. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  opinions,  which  have  no  real 
foundation  in  nature,  were  at  any  time  admitted  without  con- 
troversy. We  find,  even  in  the  writings  which  are  called  Hip- 
pocratic, some  variations  from  this  fundamental  hypothesis ;  and 
other  theories,  which  are  wholly  distinct  from  it.  Many  suc- 
ceeding teachers  rejected  it  entirely,  and  proposed  other  sys- 
tems.    Asclepiades  embraced  the  atomic  philosophy,  derived 


14  •        VEGETABLE    DIET 

from  the  doctrines  of  Democritus  and  Epicurus :  he  ascribed 
the  production  of  diseases  to  the  stopping  up  or  relaxation  of 
the  pores.  The  Methodists  thought  that  diseases  were  not 
produced  by  morbid  alterations  of  the  fluids  of  the  body,  but 
considered  them  as  affections  of  the  solids.  They  divided  dis- 
eases therefore  into  three  orders  ;  some  they  considered  as  caused 
by  laxity  ;  others,  as  the  consequence  of  tension ;  others,  again, 
as  complicated,  being  related  by  some  of  their  symptoms  to  each 
of  the  other  orders.  Another  sect  denied  that  diseases  were 
connected  with  the  sensible  qualities  of  the  body.  They  asser- 
ted that  there  was  a  subtle  matter,  an  ether,  attached  to,  and 
pervading  the  system ;  and  that  diseases  were  affections  of  this 
matter.     This  sect  was  that  of  the  Pneumatists. 

Opinions  so  discordant,  as  it  showed  the  evidence  in  behalf 
of  each  to  be  unsatisfactory,  must  have  excited,  in  the  minds  of 
many,  hesitation  and  discontent.  Accordingly,  there  has  ever 
been  a  sect,  which  has  maintained,  that,  in  medicine,  evident 
causes  were  the  only  proper  objects  of  inquiry ;  that  the 
changes,  which  take  place  within  the  body,  arc  mostly  incom- 
prehensible, and  the  study  of  them  must  be  therefore  super- 
fluous ;  and  that,  could  they  even  be  discovered,  they  would 
throw  no  light  on  the  methods  of  treatment.  The  question, 
they  said,  is  not  what  makes  a  disease,  but  what  will  cure  it, 
How  digestion  is  performed,  is  of  no  moment ;  but  what  matter 
is  most  easily  digestible,  is  of  the  greatest ;  it  matters  not  how 
we  breathe,  but  to  determine  the  purest  air  is  of  the  first  con- 
sequence. In  things  of  this  natui-e,  we  are  instructed,  not  by 
abstruse  speculations  and  metaphysical  subtleties,  but  by  evident 
experience  only.  This  is  the  proper  guide  in  medicine,  distin- 
guishing the  useful  from  the  noxious,  and  applying  them 
accordingly  to  practice.  Such  is  the  general  reasoning  of  the 
sect  of  Empyrical  physicians ;  a  sect,  the  tenets  of  which, 
though  disclaimed  in  the  schools,  have  ever  found  numerous  ad- 
herents among  men  the  most  versed  in  practice  ;  and  which, 
though  not  openly  avowed,  are,  I  am  persuaded,  silently  assent- 
ed to,  and  effectively  acted  upon,  by  the  great  body  of  prac- 
titioners, even  at  this  day. 

This  short  notice  of  the  ancient  sects  demonstrates  that,  at 
the  origin  of  medicine,  the  causes  assigned,  as  immediately 
operative  in  the  production  of  diseases,  were  not  deduced  from 
experience,  but  were  the  creation  of  the  imagination.  It  would 
be  an  unprofitable  task  to  examine  whether  the  doctrines  of 
modern  teachers  have  been  built  upon  a  more  solid  foundation. 
I  shall  therefore  wholly  avoid  them.     Those  to  whom  they  are 


IX    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  15 

familiar,  will  readily  perceive,  that  the  questions,  which  have 
exercised  the  ingenuity  of  the  makers  of  systems,  in  these  latter 
days,  are  very  nearly  the  same  as  were  discussed  and  disputed 
upon  in  the  schools  of  antiquity ;  and  that  our  modern  sects  are 
little  more  than  the  ancient,  revived  under  new  names.  Nor 
will  it  be  disputed,  that  no  theory,  which  has  been  proposed, 
has  had  more  than  an  ephemeral  reputation;  nor  has  contributed, 
hardly  in  the  most  remote  degree,  to  the  only  rational  object  of 
speculation — the  improvement  of  practice,  and  the  consequent 
amelioration  of  social  hfe. 

It  is  perfectly  clear,  however,  that  human  nature  has  been, 
and  is,  at  all  times,  essentially  the  same.  History,  depicts  the 
same  passions ;  the  same  motives  of  action ;  the  same  virtues 
and  vices,  adorning  or  darkening  the  human  character ;  and  the 
records  of  medicine  show  that  the  human  body  has  been  at  all 
times  (within  the  reach  of  written  memorials)  subject  to  the 
same  diseases.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  contagions  (the 
effect,  perhaps,  of  some  accidental  combination  of  circum- 
stances), it  may  be  doubted  whether  there  exists  any  new  dis- 
ease. In  the  Hippocratic  Avritings  we  meet  with,  not  merely 
the  same  names  of  diseases,  as  those  employed  at  this  day,  but, 
generally  speaking,  the  same  names  applied  to  the  same  things ; 
we  meet  with  the  same  order  and  succession  of  events  ;  the  sr.me 
accidents ;  the  same  signs,  whether  announcing  safety  or  por- 
tending danger ;  the  same  divisions  of  diseases  ;  in  a  word,  as 
far  as  we  can  judge,  the  very  same  scene,  which  is  at  this  time 
daily  passing  before  the  eyes  of  medical  practitioners.  It  is, 
indeed,  the  perception  of  this  striking  analogy  which  has  im- 
pressed upon  these  memorials  the  indehble  character  of  authen- 
ticity ;  we  feel  for  them  a  veneration  like  that  excited  by  the 
Avorks  of  Homer,  being  assured  by  our  present  experience  that 
they  are  faithful  transcripts  from  nature,  taken  at  a  period  of 
very  remote  antiquity.  As  this  is  a  fact  of  the  first  consequence 
in  the  history  of  human  nature,  I  shall  cite  in  illustration  of  it 
the  account  of  a  very  common  affection,  as  it  is  described  in  one 
of  these  ancient  treatises.  The  disease  I  shall  select  is  the  com- 
mon catarrh,  or  cold,  of  which  the  following  description  is  found 
in  the  treatise  on  ancient  medicine. 

"  Whenever  any  one  is  affected  with  a  cold,  and  defluxion  from 
the  nose,  the  matter  is  commonly  more  acrimonious  during  the 
first  days  of  descent  from  the  nostril,  and  it  makes  the  nose 
swell,  and  it  heats  and  inflames  it;  if,  when  it  has  continued 
some  tin'.e,  you  apply  the  hand  to  the  part,  it  w^ill  be  found  ex- 
cepted  though  it  be  naturally  hard,  and  of  little  vascularity. 


16  VEGETABLE    DIET 

This  heat  in  the  nostrils  begins  to  diminish,  not  while  the  mat- 
ter is  flowing,  and  the  inflammation  continues,  but  when  the 
matter  has  become  thicker  and  less  acrid,  more  concocted  and 
mino-led  than  at  first ;  then  it  is  that  the  heat  ceases." — De 
veteri  Medicina,  xxxi. 

Here  we  have  an  example  of  the  slightest  of  all  inflammatory- 
complaints,  which  we  find  to  have  been  attended  with  the  same 
symptoms  as  the  common  cold,  or  catarrh,  of  the  present  day. 

Cancer  is  allowed  to  be  the  most  ^calamitous  of  all  diseases 
which  afl^lict  the  human  frame.  I  do  not  know  that  any  regu- 
lar description  of  this  malady  is  to  be  found  in  the  Hippocratic 
writings ;  but  there  are  notices  of  it,  which  are  sufficiently  dis- 
tinct, and  which  afford  grounds  for  believing  that  it  was  well 
known  at  the  era  of  these  writings,  and  that  the  symptoms  of 
it  were  essentially  the  same  as  at  present.  In  one  of  the  books 
of  the  Epidemics,  the  following  short  narrative  occurs. 

"  A  woman  of  Abdera  had  a  cancer  of  the  breast ;  it  was 
of  this  nature :  a  bloody  ichor  came  out  of  the  nipple ;  when 
the  discharge  ceased,  she  died." — Fojmlaj'ium,  vii.  56. 

As  then  we  find  noticed,  in  the  earliest  records  of  medicine, 
the  slightest  of  the  acute,  and  the  most  severe  of  the  chronic 
diseases,  which  men  at  present  sufl'er,  we  cannot  doubt  that 
they  were  at  this  time  subject  to  all  the  common  forms  of  dis- 
ease which  are  found  existing  at  present.  Of  most  of  them  it 
were  easy  to  bring  direct  proof,  if  it  were  worth  while.  But 
I  am  unwilling  to  fatigue  the  patience  of  my  reader  by  affect- 
ing to  prove  points  which  no  one  is  likely  to  controvert. 

How  happens  it  then,  that,  while  opinions  have  been  so 
unsettled,  and  in  a  state  of  perpetual  fluctuatioL,  nature  has 
been  so  uniform,  and  continues  unchanged  ?  The  same  phe- 
nomena have  been  occurring  during  a  succession  of  ages  with 
the  same  regularity  as  the  rotation  of  the  seasons,  or  the  flux 
and  reflux  of  the  ocean.  What  can  have  produced  this  regu- 
larity, but  the  unceasing  operation  of  regular  and  uniform 
causes  ? 

On  these  subjects  I  have  already  delivered  my  opinions  in 
works  which  have  been  some  time  before  the  public,  and  have 
adduced  many  facts  in  corroboration  of  those  opinions.  I  have 
maintained  that,  while  the  predisposition  to  the  various  forms 
of  diseased  action  is  congenital,  and  dependent  upon  varieties 
in  the  radical  organization  of  the  frame,  the  more  direct  causes 
are  to  be  looked  for  in  the  agency  of  foreign  substances  on  the 
body,  and  principally  of  those  which  are  used  as  food  and  as 
drink.     From  an  adherence  to  those  :>pinions  I  have  not  seen 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  17 

any  reason,  after  more  mature  leflection  and  more  extended 
experience,  to  recede.  On  the  contrary,  I  hope  that  the  facts 
which  I  am  about  tt)  bring  forwaid  in  the  course  of  my  present 
undertaking  will  go  far  toAvard  establishing  them  beyond  con- 
troversy. 

I  might  continue  to  rest  the  proof  of  them  upon  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  cancer,  as  my  observations  on  that  disease  have 
been  confirmed  both  by  myself  and  others,  since  the  publica- 
tion of  my  "Reports"  on  that  subject.  Persons  of  very  nar- 
row information  are  ready  to  allow  that  any  manner  of  living, 
which  is  found  useful  in  the  cancer,  would  probably  be  bene- 
ficial in  other  chronic  diseases  likewise ;  and  that  it  w^ould  afford 
a  satisfactory  proof  of  the  general  superior  salubrity  of  the  pro- 
posed method.  But  as  the  prejudices  of  mankind  are  deeply 
rooted  and  widely  extended,  and  the  views,  that  different  in- 
dividuals take  of  the  same  subject,  are  infinitely  various  from 
the  education,  habits  of  thinking,  or  capacities  of  each,  I  have 
thought  it  may  be  useful  to  tiike  a  wider  circuit.  I  have  there- 
fore thrown  together  such  materials  as  appeared  to  me  con- 
nected with  the  end  I  had  in  view.  They  will  serve,  I  hope 
not  inaptly,  as  an  introduction  to  the  cases  which  it  is  my  prin- 
cipal object  to  relate,  and  will  perhaps  prepare  the  mind,  in 
some  degree,  for  the  conclusions  I  propose  to  draw,  by  show- 
ing that  the  opinions  which  I  have  adopted  may  be  supported 
by  many  collateral  facts,  and  are  by  no  means  at  variance  with 
those  of  men  of  the  most  respectable  authority. 

It  is  surely  in  favor  of  these  opinions,  in  general,  that  they 
are  fundamentally  in  unison  with  the  plain,  unsophisticated, 
common  sense  of  mankind.  Though  hardly  any  two  men  agree 
with  regard  to  the  salubrity  of  particular  things,  yet  all  are 
convinced  of  the  general  importance  of  the  subject.  That  our 
diseases  have  an  intimate  connection  Avith  our  habits,  is  allowed 
by  all  who  have  ever  paid  any  attention  to  the  subject.  Some 
facts  are  so  flagrant,  that  they  force  themselves  upon  the  most 
heedless.  Does  any  one  dispute  that  luxury  and  intemperance 
enervate  the  mind,  and  destroy  the  body  ?  that  there  is  an  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  peasant  of  the  country  and  the  arti- 
san of  the  city  ?  that,  to  possess  a  hardy  and  healthy  body,  it 
is  necessary  to  adopt  hardy  and  healthy  modes  of  life  ?  The 
influence  of  some  customs  becomes  evidently  imprinted  on  the 
features,  and  gives  a  character  to  the  form  and  physiognomy. 
Who  can  mistake  the  lineaments  of  habitual  drunkenness  ?  The 
first  questions,  put  by  the  valetudinarian  to  his  medical  adviser, 
are — Is  this  wholesome  ?  is  that  wholesome  ?  and,  how  ought 


18  VEGETABLE    DIET 

I  to  regulate  my  diet?  Though  on  no  subject  whatever  do 
there  exist  more  deep  prejudices,  and,  as  I  think,  more  per- 
nicious errors,  tiiere  are  none  concerning  which  many  indi- 
viduals arc  more  seriously  engaged  in  searching  after  the  truth. 

"j'hc  venerable  authority  of  the  father  of  medicine  may  be 
adduced  in  support  of  the  same  doctrine ;  external  causes  being 
ackno\Ylodged  by  Hippocrates  to  have  the  greatest  influence 
upon  licalth  and  disease.  He  attributed  much  to  the  air;  and 
on  this  subject  he  entertained  ideas  which  were  sufficiently 
correct.  The  spreading  of  epidemic  diseases  he  attributed  to 
the  operation  of  some  morbific  exhalation,  or  miasma,  corrupt- 
ing the  atmosphere.  Sleeping  and  watchfulness  ;  exercise  and 
repose ;  the  matters  secreted,  or  retained  within  the  body ;  and 
the  dominion  of  the  passions,  were  severally  enumerated  by  this 
ancient  philosopher  as  powerful  agents  upon  the  human  frame. 
Regimen,  in  the  most  extensive  sense  of  the  word,  includes  the 
totality  of  these  agents. 

Hippocrates  considered  man  to  be,  as  the  plants  and  animals 
by  which  he  is  surrounded,  a  product  of  the  soil  upon  which 
he  grows,  and  as  having  his  qualities  modified  by  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  is  placed.  He  observed  that  nations  had, 
like  individuals,  their  characteristic  physiognomy ;  and  he  taught 
that  the  forms  and  manners  of  men  must  be  consonant  to  the 
character  of  the  country  which  they  inhabit.  In  support  of 
this  doctrine,  he  contrasted  the  Asiatics  with  the  Europeans. 
His  words  are :  "I  sa}''  that  there  is  a  great  difference  between 
Asia  and  Europe,  both  with  regard  to  the  productions  of  the 
soil,  and  also  the  men.  All  the  productions  of  Asia  are  more 
beautiful,  and  of  a  larger  growth:  for  the  climate  is  much 
milder  than  ours,  and  the  manners  of  the  natives  more  kind 
and  cultivated.  The  cause  of  these  phenomena  is  the  consti- 
tution of  tlir  seasons ;  for  Asia  is  placed  toward  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  removed  from  the  cold.  This,  of  all  circumstances, 
tends  to  produce  increase  and  mildness,  since  there  is  no  pre- 
dominant power  to  divert  the  course  of  nature,  but  an  equalit}'- 
of  force  is  prevalent  throughout. 

"This  is  not  the  case,  however,  throughout  the  whole  of 
Asia :  the  inland  parts,  which  are  equally  remote  from  the  heat 
and  the  cold,  are  the  most  fertile,  the  best  wooded,  the  finest, 
and  watered  the  best  by  the  rains  or  by  rivulets.  Thus  it  is 
neither  burnt  up  by  the  heat,  nor  dried  up  from  want  of  water, 
nor  condensed  by  the  cold ;  but  it  is  fanned  by  southerly  winds, 
and  moistened  both  by  rains  and  snow.  Hence  (as  might  be 
expected)  the  plants  at3  abundant,  whether  raised  by  man,  or 


IN    CHRONIC    DlriEASEa.  lO 

growing  spontaneously :  upon  the  fruits  of  which  tlie  inhabit- 
ants subsist,  improving  them  by  culture  and  transplantation. 
Tlie  cattle  will  be  of  a  larger  growth,  more  prolific,  and  the 
offspring  more  beautiful.  The  men  are  well  nourished,  of  the 
finest  forms,  and  the  largest  stature,  and  with  little  individual 
differences  in  these  respects." 

The  Europeans,  on  the  other  hand,  are  depicted  by  Hippo- 
crates as  differing  much  more  among  themselves,  both  in  tlieir 
stature  and  form ;  which  he  attributes  to  their  variable  climate, 
exposed  to  great  vicissitudes  of  heat  and  cold,  of  rains  and 
droughts,  and  the  inconstancy  of  the  winds ;  from  the  co- 
operation of  which  the  body  is  exposed  to  perpetual  changes. 
These  circumstances  would  undoubtedly  produce  a  more  robust 
frame,  greater  energy  and  activity,  and  a  more  adventurous 
spirit.  But  Hippocrates  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  powerful 
effect  of  political  institutions  upon  the  moral  character.  While, 
therefore,  he  attributes,  in  some  dem-ee,  to  the  relaxins:  efiects 
of  the  climate  the  timidity,  effeminacy,  and  unwarlike  spirit  of 
the  Asiatics,  as  compaied  to  the  Europeans,  he  ascribes  still 
more  to  their  institutions.  ''Almost  all  Asia,"  he  says,  "is 
under  the  dominion  of  absolute  monarchs ;  a  condition  which, 
by  necessity,  engenders  cunning,  selfishness,  and  pusillanimity : 
the  Europeans,  on  the  other  hand,  possess  liberty  and  property, 
living  under  the  safeguard  of  laws  ;  which  produces  a  character 
marked  by  boldness,  pride,  and  independence." 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  quoting  another  of  the  ex- 
amples by  which  this  great  man  has  illustrated  the  principles 
he  has  inculcated.  It  is  taken  from  the  same  treatise  from 
which  the  foregoing  remarks  have  been  extracted,  a  treatise 
which  has  been  justly  esteemed  one  of  the  most  precious  relics 
of  antiquity.  It  seems  to  have  furnished  to  the  author  of  the 
**  Spirit  of  Laws  "  the  basis  on  which  he  raised  the  superstruc- 
ture of  his  immortal  work. 

"  I  will  add  a  few  words  concerning  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Phasis.  Their  country  is  marshy,  warm,  and  thick-set ;  much 
rain  falls  during  every  season.  The  inhabitants  live  in  the 
marshes,  having  houses  made  of  wood,  cr  of  reeds,  constructed 
among  the  waters  ;  so  they  walk  very  little,  except  when  they 
go  to  the  city  and  market ;  but  they  sail  up  and  down  in  boats, 
made  out  of  a  single  piece  of  wood.  There  are  many  ditches ; 
and  they  drink  hot  and  stagnant  waters,  putrefied  by  the  sun, 
and  increased  by  the  rain.  The  Phasis  itself  is,  of  all  rivers, 
one  whose  course  is  the  most  sluggish.  All  the  fruits  of  the 
country  are  unwholesome,  without  strength,  and  cinide,  froaa 


20  VEGETABLE    DIET 

tlie  superabundance  of  water;  nor  io  they  ever  ripen.  Many 
fogs  from  tlie  waters  cover  the  face  of  the  country. 

"  For  these  causes,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Phasis  are,  in  their 
appearance,  different  from  other  men.  Their  size  is  large,  their 
bodies  corpulent ;  the  joints  of  their  limbs  are  not  visible,  nor 
the  veins ;  their  color  is  pallid,  as  if  suffering  under  jaundice ; 
they  speak  the  slowest  of  all  men,  living  in  a  dull,  obscure,  and 
moist  atmosphere ;  and  they  are  in  their  bodies  slothful,  and 
unfit  for  labor.* 

This  is,  perhaps,  an  extreme  case ;  but  there  is  strong  inter- 
nal evidence  that  the  description  is,  in  its  principal  features, 
taken  from  nature.  Tlie  same  causes,  at  this  day,  produce 
similar  effects ;  as  is  experienced  in  our  hundreds  of  Essex ;  in 
Walchoren,  Beveland,  and  in  Zealand — a  country  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  the  oozy  and  slimy  branches  of  the  eastern  and 
western  Scheld.  The  mass  of  the  people  are,  in  such  situa- 
tions, unhealthy,  dull,  bloated,  and  leucophlegmatic. 

Nor  is  any  truth  more  fully  acknowledged  by  those  who 
have  taken  an  extended  survey  of  human  nature,  than  that  the 
various  races  of  men  have  their  specific  and  characteristic  forms ; 
so.  that  the  exprienced  eye  can  pronounce,  from  simple  inspec- 
tion, the  race  or  country  to  which  any  individual  belongs. 
Philosophers  may  not  have  determined,  with  perfect  exactness, 
all  the  circumstances  which  modify  the  system,  and  impress 
upon  it  its  peculiarities.  Some  of  them,  perhaps,  have,  as  yet, 
eluded  their  research.  That  climate,  including,  in  the  term,  all 
the  circumstances  peculiar  to  each  particular  situation,  is  of 
great  efficacy,  has  never  been  doubted.  The  changes  which 
are  produced  in  the  frame,  either  by  an  animal  being  brought 
up  in  a  particular  spot,  or  by  its  being  transplanted  to  it,  are 
not  confined  tc  the  human  race':  the  brutes  equally  partake  of 
them ;  they  affect  alike  the  whole  animated  creation. 

*  The  people  described  by  Hippocrates  in  this  passage,  were  those 
who  inhabited  the  modern  Mingrelia.  According  to  the  relation  of  an 
Italian  traveler,  there  is  a  great  similitude  between  the  present  and  the 
ancient  inhabitants.  He  says  of  them,  "  Very  few  of  them  reach  a  sound 
old  age.  Disease  of  the  spleen  is  universal,  which,  not  being  treated 
with  proper  remedies  in  time,  always  terminates  in  dropsy.  The  tertian 
and  quartan  ague  is  so  familiar,  that,  esteeming  them  nothing  at  all,  even 
in  the  time  of  the  paroxysm,  the  people  follow  their  usual  occupations. 
In  the  autumn,  the  quotidian  is  a  universal  malady.  Catarrh  and  asthma 
are  apt  to  suffocate  men  of  mature  years ;  jaundice  and  lethargy  prove  fatal 
to  others." — Lamberti,  Relatione  della  Colchide,  oggi  delta  MengreUia 
cap.  27,  p,  193. 


la    CUH0I4IC    DISEASES  21 


CHAPTER  II. 

Opinions  of  Hippocrates  concerning  Food,  and  the  use  of  Diluents ;  tha 
of  Van  Swieten. — General  doctrine  of  Hippocrates  on  the  etFects  of 
Water.  Opinion  of  Hoffman ;  of  M.  Cabanis. — CuUen's  opinion  ex 
amined. — Some  additional  considerations  on  Water. 

JSucH  was  the  general  doctrine  of  Hippocrates  on  the  ante- 
cedent causes  of  health  and  disease,  and  those  things  which 
principally  aflfect  and  modify  the  human  system.  But  of  all 
the  circumstances,  the  influence  of  which  it  is  necessary  to  ap- 
preciate, Hippocrates  considered  diet  as  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant ;  and,  under  this  term,  he  included  all  the  matters  used  in 
the  ordinary  manner  of  living,  namely,  food,  whether  fish,  flesh, 
milk,  or  vegetables;  wine,  and  other  fermented  liquors;  and 
water.  He  has  declared  in  general,  with  regard  to  the  quah- 
ties  of  food — "  Whoever  gives  these  things  no  consideration, 
and  is  ignorant  of  them,  how  can  he  understand  the  diseases 
of  men?  for,  by  every  one  of  these,  the  body  is  affected  and 
changed,  either  in  one  manner  or  in  another ;  and  of  these  is 
the  whole  of  life  composed,  in  health,  in  convalescence,  and  in 
sickness."  Another  passage  of  the  same  writer  is  still  more 
direct  and  express,  and  indicates,  in  my  opinion,  a  wonderful 
sagacity  in  the  writer,  considering  the  time  at  which  it  was 
written.  In  treating  of  the  generation  of  anasarca,  he  suggests 
that  the  foundation  of  the  disease  is  laid  in  a  tuberculated  state 
of  the  lungs.  To  prove  this,  he  refers  to  the  same  condition 
of  the  lungs  in  domesticated  animals :  the  ox,  the  dog,  and  the 
sow.  In  these  quadrupeds,  he  says,  tubercles  full  of  water  are 
formed  in  the  lungs:  they  are  readily  found  by  dissection. 
And  he  adds — "  Such  things  are  much  more  likely  to  happen 
in  man  than  in  animals,  inasmuch  as  we  ccse  a  more  unwhole- 
some diet."* 

*  Hippocrates,  Lib.  De  luternis  Affectionih  up,  x•'.^r.  Hippocrates  had 
probably  seen  hydatids:  he  says,  "the  water  w'jl  *!ow  out;^  which  is 
not  true  of  the  common  tubercle. 

An  ingenious  writer,  speaking  of  domestic  animals,  observes,  "  The 
diseases  of  domestic  animals  are  interesting,  inasmuch  as  they  show  the 
power  of  imnatural  food  and  habits  to  cause  a  variety  of  disorders,  and 
confirm  the  opinion  that  human  diseases  are  chiefly  referable  to  the  same 
cause.  In  dissecting  tame  animals,  I  have  frequently  found  ossifications 
of  the  soft  parts  and  preternatural  tumors;  but  I  never  remember  to  have 
found  any  marks  of  organic  disease  in  those  which  might  be  properly- 
called  wild.'' — Forster  on  Spirituous  and  Fermented  Liquors,  p.  50. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  wild  animals,  living  strictly  according  to 
their  natural  habits,  suffer  any  constitutional  disease ;  but  the  question 


22  VEGETABLE    DIET 

Many  other  passages  might  be  cited,  if  it  were  necessary, 
from  the  Hippocratic  writings  to  the  same  purpose.  Accord- 
ingly we  find  that  the  most  essential  part  of  the  treatment  of 
diseases,  prescribed  by  the  father  of  medicine,  consisted  of  rules 
concerning  diet  and  regimen.  The  use  of  medicines  was  second- 
ary and  subsidiary.  Several  treatises  on  these  subjects  have 
come  down  to  us,  than  which  I  do  not  know  that  the  works  of 
modern  writers  on  the  same  topics  contain  any  tiling  more  use- 
ful or  more  correct. 

On  the  use  of  watery  fluids  in  the  treatment  of  diseases,  the 
opinion  of  Hippocrates  was  greatly  at  variance  with  modern 
practice.  We  urge  the  sick  to  dilute  plentifully;  and  there 
was  a  time  when  physicians  expected  extraordinary  benefits 
to  result  from  attenuating  the  fluids  by  the  copious  use  of 
liquids,  the  basis  of  which  was  common  water.  But  the  doc- 
trine of  Hippocrates  was,  that  a  copious  use  of  such  fluids 
causes  "an  effeminacy  of  the  fibres,  impotence  of  the  nerves, 
stupor  of  the  mind,  hemorrhages,  and  faintings."  In  another 
place  he  says,  concerning  the  use  of  water  in  acute  diseases, 
**  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  favor  of  water  drinking  in  acute 
diseases :  it  neither  eases  the  cough,  nor  promotes  expectora- 
tion in  inflammation  of  the  lungs ;  and,  least  of  all,  in  those  who 
are  used  to  it.  It  does  not  quench  thirst,  but  increases  it.  In 
bilious  habits  it  increases  bile,  and  oppresses  the  stomach ;  and 
is  the  most  pernicious,  and  sickening,  and  debilitating,  in  a  state 

cannot  be  easily  determined.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  those  become 
most  diseased,  which  recede  the  farthest  from  their  natural  habits  of  life. 
The  common  rat  is  natui'ally  herbivorous.  Mr.  Lawrence,  assistant-sur- 
geon of  St.  Bartlwlomew's  Hospital,  informed  me,  that  they  have  at  the 
hospital  a  tribe  of  rats,  which  feed  principally  on  the  offals  of  the  dissect 
ing-room.  These  animals  are  very  large ;  but,  commonly,  the  liver  is 
found  diseased. 

The  common  dog  shows  the  effect  of  unnatural  aliment  in  a  very  strik- 
ing manner.  This  animal,  by  being  confined  to  vegetable  food,  loses  all 
the  social  qualities  which  has  made  him  the  companion  of  men,  his  fidelity, 
attachment,  and  sagacity.  The  naturalist  who  accompanied  Captain  Cook 
in  his  second  voyage,  remarks,  "  The  dogs  of  the  South  Sea  Isles  are  of  a 
singular  race :  they  most  resemble  the  common  cur,  but  have  a  prodigious 
large  head,  remarkably  little  eyes,  pi-ick  ears,  and  a  short  bushy  tail. 
They  are  chiefly  fed  with  fruit  at  the  Society  Isles,  but  in  the  Low  Isles 
and  New  Zealand,  where  they  are  the  only  domestic  animals,  they  live 
upon  fish.  They  are  exceedingly  stujjid,  and  seldom  or  never  bark,  only 
howl  now  and  then ;  they  have  the  sense  of  smelling  in  a  very  low  degree, 
and  are  lazy  beyond  measure ;  they  m-e  kept  by  the  natives  chiefly  for 
the  sake  of  their  flesh." — Foste7-'s  Obi-^rvalions,  p.  189. 

Captain  King's  ac/ouut  of  the  dogs  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  to  the 
same  purpose. — Sc    Cook's  Third  Voi,  -.gc,  vol.  2,  p.  118,  ito. 


JX    CHRuNIt:    DISEASES;.  23 

of  inanition.  It  increases  inflammations  of  the  liver  and  spleen. 
It  passes  slowly,  by  reason  of  its  coldness  and  crudeness ;  and 
does  not  readily  find  a  passage  either  by  the  bowels  or  kid- 
ne3\"*  In  conformity  to  these  observations,  the  respectable 
Van  Svvieten  observes,  "  While  girls  are  daily  sipping  tepid, 
watery  liquors,  ho^\  -^^eak  and  how  flaccid  do  they  become !" 
And  the  same  writer  positively  affirms  that,  by  the  abuse  of 
tea,  coffee,  and  similar  liquors,  he  had  seen  many  so  enervate 
their  bodies,  that  they  could  scarcely  drag  their  limbs;  and 
many  had  from  this  cause  been  seized  with  apoplexies  and 
palsies.f 

That  our  common  domestic  waters  possess  different  qualities, 
according  to  their  various  natures,  and,  in  consequence,  have 
different  degrees  of  salubrity,  is  consonant  to  popular  opinion. 
Indeed,  this  a  persuasion  so  widely  disseminated,  as  to  aff*ord 
reasonable  ground  for  believing  it  the  result  of  experience.  I 
pervades  remote  regions,  and  people  unconnected  by  prejudices, 
religion,  manners,  or  education.  "The  old  men  of  Brazil," 
according  to  Piso,  "are  as  nice  in  their  choice  of  waters,  as 
people  are  with  us  in  distinguishing  the  qualities  of  wine ;  and 
they  accuse  persons  of  imprudence  who  use  them  all  without 
selection.  They  use  the  hghtcst  and  sweetest,  and  those  which, 
falling  from  elevated  grounds,  give  no  sediment."  Sir  G. 
Staunton  informs  us,  that  "persons  of  rank  in  China  are  so 

*  If  Hippocrates  meant  that  the  copious  use  of  pure  soft  water  causes 
"  an  effeniinacy  of  the  fibres,  impotence  of  the  nerves,  stupor  of  the  mind, 
hemorrhages,  and  fainting;"  and  if  he  regarded,  that  such  water  was 
"not  good  in  acute  diseases;''  "  thiit  it  neither  eases  the  cough  nor  pro- 
motes expectoration  in  inflammations  of  the  lungs;"  "that  it  does  not 
quench  thirst  but  increases  it ;  "  "  that  in  bilious  habits  it  increases  bile, 
and  oppresses  the  stomach,  and  is  the  most  pernicious,  sickening,  and 
debilitating  in  a  state  of  inanition;"  and,  that  *'  it  increases  inflammation 
of  the  liver  and  spleen,"  he  was  evidently  mistaken,  as  is  abundantly 
proved  by  the  success  of  the  modern  water-cure.  If  the  objections  were 
stated  against  the  use  of  hard  and  impure  water,  they  would  have  some 
force,  but  not  otherwise.  There  is  nc  danger  whatever  in  allowing  per- 
sons the  freest  use  of  pure  soft  water,  however  cold,  in  acute  diseases, 
although  in  some  cases  warm  is  probably  the  best. — S. 

t  That  people  generally  injure  themselves  in  many  respects  by  the 
use  of  tea  and  coffee,  it  is  easy  enough  to  understand.  Nervousness. 
tremors,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  indigestion,  paleness,  and  flaccidity  of  the 
muscular  system,  sallowncvss,  decay  of  the  teeth,  and  especially  sick  head- 
ache, are  often  caused  by  these  articles,  as  many  may  prove  to  their  satis- 
fiiction,  if  they  will  but  resolutely  abstain  from  them,  and  take  only  pure 
soft  water  ii>s"tead,  for  one  year.  But  that  people  will  injure  themselves 
with  "  tepid  waters ;"  drink  which  has  in  its  composition  nothing  stronger 
than  pure  water,  we  need  not  at  all  fear.  The  stimulants  contained,  and 
not  the  water,  cause  the  evils  alluded  to  in  tu*j  text. — S. 


24  VEGETABLE    DIET 

careful  about  the  quality  of  the  water  inier.ded  for  their  own 
consumption,  that  they  seldom  drink  any  without  its  being  dis- 
tilled." In  Egypt,  they  prefer  the  water  of  the  Nile.  The 
gravel  is  said  to  be  "  universally  the  disease  with  those  who 
use  water  from  the  draw-wells,  as  in  the  desert.  In  Hindostan, 
people  universally  ascribe  most  of  their  disorders  to  the  oflfen- 
sive  quality  of  bad  water.  It  is  useless  to  multiply  authorities. 
Even  in  London,  though  it  is  not,  in  general,  considered  to  be 
of  so  much  importance,  the  selection  of  waters  is  considerably 
attended  to :  men  have  their  favorite  spring,  or  their  favorite 
pump  ;  and  they  think  that  some  waters  are  more  favorable  to 
the  health  than  others.* 

I  have  little  doubt  that  popular  observations  of  this  kind,  in 
ancient  times,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  cele- 
brated treatise  of  Hippocrates,  de  Aere,  Aquis,  et  Locis ;  and 
though  some  of  the  distinctions,  found  in  that  treatise,  may 
have  been  founded  upon  local  circumstances,  and  have  been  too 
hastily  generalized,  yet  their  accuracy  upon  the  whole  has  been 
so  little  questioned,  that  succeeding  writers  have  added  nothing 
of  importance  to  them. 

Though  Hippocrates  has  said,  that  healthy  persons  may 
drink,  indiscriminately,  such  water  as  comes  in  their  way,  yet 
he  declares  that,  to  distinguish  that  which  is  wholesome  is  of 
the  first  consequence  to  health.  The  best  waters  he  pronoun- 
ces to  be  those  which  fall  from  high  places,  and  uncultivated 
hills.    He  condemns  water  collected  from  the  melting  of  snow,f 

*  After  the  Croton  water  (which  is  on  the  whole  very  good,  and  far 
superior  to  the  fihhy  water  of  the  wells,  that  had  formerly  been  used,) 
had  been  introduced  into  the  city  of  New  York  about  two  years,  accord- 
ing to  present  recollection,  the  officers  of  the  City  Hospital  published  that 
there  had  been  no  cases  of  gravel  admitted  into  that  institution  since  the 
time  when  the  Cioton  water  had  fairly  come  into  use,  but  that  before  the 
complaint  was  frequent. — S. 

t  The  writer,  residing  at  Cos,  could  p.'obably  know  nothing,  from  ex- 
perience, on  the  properties  of  snow-water ;  and  spoke  therefore  only  from 
report.  The  report  itself  was,  I  conceive,  grounded  upon  supposing  the 
waters  of  the  valleys  of  alpine  countries  to  be  snow-water. 

Though  the  putrescent  matter  of  common  water  cannot  be  separated 
from  the  earths  or  other  matters  which  are  dissolved  in  the  water,  its 
presence  is  very  easily  shown.  If  there  be  any  thing  inflammable  in 
the  residuum  left  by  the  water  after  evaporation,  it  indicates  the  presence 
of  matter  of  this  kind.  This  impregnation  of  common  water,  though 
little  regarded  by  modern  chemists,  has  been  long  known.  Borrichius 
observed  the  residuum  of  common  water  to  be  inflammable ;  that  it  melted 
with  bubbles,  swelled,  took  fire,  and  burned  with  a  clear  white  flame. 
Lucas,  in  his  treatise  on  waters,  remarked  the  inflammability  of  the  resi- 
duum both  of  the  Thames  and  New  River  water,  and  also  of  some 
others.    This  matter  it  is  which  makes  water  corrupt  by  keeping ;  which. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  Zb 

in  which  he  was  guided,  probably,  by  popular  prejudice.    Even 
rain-water  he  advises  to  be  boiled  and  filtered ;  otherwise  it  has 

I  believe,  always  happens  in  warm  weather,  if  it  be  in  a  considerable 
body. 

The  method  which  I  have  commonly  employed  to  determine  the  pres- 
ence of  inflammable  matter,  is  to  precipitate  the  water  by  a  salt  of  lead 
(the  acetate,  or  nitrate  of  lead),  and  to  heat  the  precipitate,  either  alone, 
or  mixed  only  with  an  alkali.  If  lead  is  by  this  process  revived,  tlie  pre- 
cipitate must,  in  part,  consist  of  an  inflammable  substance.  And  by  this 
simple  method  I  have  detected  matter  of  this  kind  in  every  common 
water  I  have  examined,  except  two.  One  of  these  was  the  water  of  the 
Bristol  Hot  Wells,  a  water  which  is  known  to  be  very  light  upon  the 
stomach,  though  it  is  a  good  deal  loaded  with  earthy  salts. 

To  this  inflammable  and  putrescent  matter  is  owing  the  activity  of  com- 
mon water,  of  which  persons  almost  constantly  receive  proofs,  whenever 
they  change  their  residence.  Yet  it  is  astonishiug  (as  I  have  said  in  the 
text)  how  much  it  has  been  overlooked.  Dr.  Lind,  for  example,  says, 
that  as  the  guinea- worm,  which  seems  peculiar  to  Africa  and  some  parts  of 
Asia,  "  has  been  supposed  to  proceed  from  a  bad  quality  of  the  water  of 
the  country,  I  procured  the  waters  of  Senegal,  Gambia,  and  Sierra  Leone 
to  be  sent  me  in  bottles,  well  corked  and  sealed,  in  order  to  examine 
their  contents.  Upon  opening  these  bottles,  I  found  the  water  in  all  of 
them  putrid,  but  the  scent  of  the  Senegal  water  was  the  strongest  and 
most  oftensive.  I  could  not,  however,  discover  by  the  help  of  a  good  mi- 
croscope the  least  appearance  of  any  of  the  animalcules,  nor  did  any 
chemical  experiment  discover  uncommon  conteiits  or  impurities  in  those 
waters.  All  of  them,  after  standing  some  time  exposed  to  the  open  air, 
become  perfectly  sweet  and  good." — Lind's  Worlcs,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  56. 

Here  we  see  that  Dr.  Lind  (a  man  of  much  intelligence)  thought  there 
was  nothing  amiss  with  these  waters,  though  they  were  absolutely  foetid. 
And  most  writers  have  conceived  with  him,  that  all  that  was  necessary 
to  make  water  salubrious  was  to  get  rid  of  any  offensive  odor  or  taste. 
It  is,  however,  perfectly  obvious  that  if  water  is  capable  of  putrefaction, 
it  must  contain  a  putrescent  matter,  even  before  it  putrefies,  and  when  it 
is  esteemed  to  be  perfectly  sweet  and  good.  What  is  the  effect  of  this 
matter  upon  the  human  system  is  a  proper  object  of  inquiry,  and  what  I 
have  attempted  to  ascertain  experimentally. 

I  have  argued  for  the  universal  diffusion  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and 
throughout  the  soil,  and,  in  consequence,  in  the  substance  of  animal  and 
vegetable  bodies,  of  a  true  arsenical  matter.  I  have  said  that  some  sub- 
stances may  comlaine  so  intimately  with  this  poison  as  to  prevent  its  being 
developed  and  exhibited  in  its  proper  form  by  the  common  modes  of 
chemical  operation.  Manganese  is  one  body  which  has  this  effect.  But 
it  is  net  the  only  one.  In  this  point  of  view,  therefore,  the  explication  I 
proposed  in  my  "  Inquiry  into  Constitutional  Diseases"  (printed  in  1805) 
is  too  limited.  But  ulterior  inquiries  have  shown  to  me  that  the  nature  of 
arsenic  itself  is  misunderstood,  and  its  properties  very  imperfectly  known. 
It  can  be  very  easily  shown  that  it  is  a  decomposable  matter,  and  possessed 
of  different  properties,  as  it  is  obtained  from  different  substances.  What 
I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  myself  with  regard  to  this  body,  I  hope,  ere 
long,  to  be  able  to  lay  before  the  public ;  and  I  believe  the  experiments 

propose  to  relate,  will  at  least  make  an  opening  for  obtaining  an  insight 
into  some  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  which  have  hitherto  been  involved 
in  obscurity. 

'  2  ' 


26  VEGETABLE    DIET 

a  bad  smell,  and  occasions  hoarseness  in  those  who  use  it 
Hard  and  crude  waters  are  not  adapted  to  all  habits,  since  they 
constringe  and  bind  the  belly.  In  countries  where  men  are  con- 
strained to  drink  t-he  str.gnant  and  foetid  waters  of  wells,  the 
belly  and  spleen  must,  in  such  persons,  of  necessity  be  injured. 
Some  have  calculus  complaints;  some,  tumors  of  the  spleen, 
strangury,  and  nephritip  complaints,  from  a  similar  cause.  The 
stagnant  water  of  marshes  must,  in  summer,  be  hot,  and  muddy., 
and  ill-scented.  Persons  who  drink  them  have  the  spleen  en- 
larged, and  the  belly  swollen.  A  train  of  evils  is  the  conse- 
quence of  the  use  of  such  waters :  marasmas,  dropsies,  fluxes, 
agues,  peripneumonies,  insanity^  and  abortions.  Such  waters 
ai-e  wholly  unfit  for  use. 

The  general  doctrine  of  this  venerable  and  philosophic  wri- 
tei%  as  to  the  agents  w^hich  have  the  greatest  influence  upon  the 
frame,  he  has  summed  up,  in  a  manner  equally  decisive  and  con- 
cise, in  the  following  paragraph. 

"  The  variations  of  the  seasons  are  the  most  powerful  causes 
of  the  different  natures  of  men.  Next  to  these  is  the  quality 
of  the  soil  on  which  they  subsist,  and  the  waters  they  use.  It 
is  certain,  that  commonly  both  the  physical  and  moral  consti- 
tution of  man  is  conformable  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  on 
which  he  Hves." 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  that  this  doctrine  is  fundamentally 
conformable  to  nature.  As  I  have  already  said,  the  assertions 
of  succeeding  writers,  on  the  noxious  effects  of  impure  waters, 
are  so  strictly  coincident  Avith  those  of  Hippocrates,  that  they 
would  seem  almost  to  be  transcribed  from  them.  Thus,  the 
celebrated  Hoffman  writes :  "  Water  is  the  most  proper  bever- 
age for  all  animals ;  but  care  must  be  taken  to  use  none  that 
is  hard,  tophaceous,  and  heavy ;  since  ttese  kinds,  from  their 
passing  with  difficulty,  and  easily  stagnating  in  the  minute  pas- 
sages, are  favorable  to  the  generation  of  calculus,  and  to  visce- 
ral obstructions.  It  has  been  often  observed,  that  the  drinking 
of  hard  and  rough  water  has  been  pernicious  both  to  men  and 
animals ;  of  which  persons  engaged  in  military  service  have 
given  striking  examples.  Hard  waters  are  most  injurious  to  the 
viscera,  and,  in  particular,  to  the  spleen,  as  being  very  vascular ; 
and,  by  stagnating  in  its  small  vessels,  the  whole  gland  is  easily 
raised  into  a  large  tumor.  It  has  been  constantly  asserted, 
that  scrofulous  tumors,  of  a  great  magnitude,  are  indigenous, 
from  the  use  of  hard  and  rough  waters,  in  certain  mountainous 
tracts  where  such  springs  abound.  But- the' stagnant,  putrid 
waters  of  marshes  are  chiefly  to  be  avoided,  which  not  only 


•N    CHRONIC    riSEASE.?.  27 

corrupt  the  air,  by  depraved  and  pestilential  exhalations,  but 
are  likewise  capable  of  producing  putrid  diseases  and  fevers." 

Many  other  authorities  might  be  cited  to  the  same  purpose ; 
since,  in  fact,  there  is  hardly  any  physician  of  eminence,  ancient 
or  modern,  vrith  the  exceptiov:  of  Cullen,  who  has  not  been  sen- 
sible of  the  great  influence  of  this  element  upon  the  animal 
economy.  I  do  not  think  necessary  to  trouble  my  readers  with 
numerous  quotations  from  authors  on  this  subject.  I  have  my- 
self little  to  add,  in  the  way  of  reasoning,  to  what  I  have  al- 
ready laid  before  the  public,  in  my  "  Inquiry  into  the  Origin 
of  Constitutional  Diseases."  Those  who  wish  to  be  informed 
of  the  opinions  of  many  other  writers,  I  refer  to  Mr.  Newton's 
publication,  which  he  has  entitled  the  "  Return  to  Nature,"  in 
which  he  has  brought  together  several  very  respectable  autho- 
rities. Many  others  might  be  added  to  the  hst.  As,  however, 
1  have  seen  it  insinuated,  that  these  are  no  more  than  anti- 
quated notions,  which  have  received  no  confirmation  from  the 
more  accurate  investigations  of  modern  inquirers,  and  which 
have  vanished  before  the  correctness  and  precision  of  modern 
pathologists,  I  shall,  in  this  place,  introduce  the  sentiments  of 
an  enlightened  French  writer,  the  second  edition  of  whose  work 
(that  which  is  before  me)  was  published  in  1805,  the  year  in 
which  I  published  my  own  "Inquiry."  This  writer  is  M. 
Cabanis,  who  says : 

"Brackish  waters,  loaded  wuth  putrid  vegetable  matters, 
with  earthy  substances,  or  a  considerable  quantity  of  sulphate 
of  lime,  act  in  a  very  pernicious  manner  on  the  stomach  and  the 
other  organs  of  digestion.  The  use  of  them  produces  different 
kinds  of  disease,  both  acute  and  chronic  ;  all  of  them  accom- 
panied by  a  remarkable  state  of  atony,  and  a  great  debility  of 
the  nervous  system.  Now,  this  atony  or  this  debility  is  in  its 
turn  characterized  by  tormenting  vaporous  affections,  which 
keep  the  mind  in  a  continual  state  of  agitation  and  lowness ;  or 
by  an  annihilation,  almost  absolute,  of  the  functions,  by  a  per- 
fect state  of  imbecility.  The  waters  called  hard  and  crude, 
that  is  to  say  those  which  hold  in  solution  a  large  quantity  of 
sulphate  of  lime,  and  a  small  proportional  quantity  of  oxygen, 
or  rather  of  atmospheric  air,  make  the  deplorable  enervation  of 
the  stomach  and  intestines  pass  with  rapidity  to  the  glandular 
system  and  the  absorbent  vessels ;  they  load  the  glands,  alter 
the  lymph,  and  obstruct  the  different  absorptions.  From  the 
obstruction  of  the  glands,  and  the  vitiation  of  the  lymph,  arise 
maladies,  the  effect  of  which  is  sometimes,  I  confess,  to  aug- 
ment the  activity  of  tb^^  brain,  but  most  frequently  to  diminish 


28  VEGETABLE    DIET 

it ;  maladies  which  may  terminate  by  leaving  it  hardly  that 
feeble  degree  of  action,  which  is  indispensable  to  carry  on  the 
vital  motions.  From  the  defect  of  the  different  absorptions 
follow  new  alterations  of  the  organs  and  the  faculties,  which  all 
tend  to  degrade,  more  and  more,  the  tone  of  the  fibres,  and  the 
vitality  of  the  nervous  system.  These  effects  are  the  limit  of 
those  which  can  be  produced  by  the  use  of  hard  and  crude 
waters ;  and,  to  produce  them  completely,  requires  probably 
the  concurrence  of  some  other  circumstances,  which  have  not 
hitherto  been  determined  with  sufficient  exactness.  But  when 
the  disorders  produced  by  the  stricture  of  the  absorbent  sys- 
tem are  characterized  in  a  more  feeble  manner,  and  are  confined 
to  an  obstinate  obstruction  of  the  different  abdominal  viscera, 
the  result  still  is  hypochondriacal  and  melancholic  affections, 
the  moral  effects  of  which  are  sufficiently  well  known." 

Again,  the  same  writer  observes : 

"  According  to  observations  the  most  constant,  we  know  that 
hard  and  crude  waters  can  cause  lymphatic  obstructions ;  that 
stagnant  and  vapid  waters  blunt  the  sensibility,  enervate  the 
muscular  force,  and  dispose  to  all  cold  and  slow  diseases.  It  is 
equally  well  known,  that  in  many  countries,  otherwise  fertile 
and  rich,  the  inhabitants  are  forced  to  use  these  unwholesome 
waters.  The  incommodities  which  they  produce,  quickly  ex- 
tend their  action  to  every  point  of  the  system ;  the  languor 
speedily  passes  from  the  organs  to  the  ideas;  to  the  inclina- 
tions ;  in  a  word,  to  the  morals.  This  influence  then  evidently 
depends  upon  local  circumstances." 

Cullen,  we  know,  has  maintained  an  opposite  opinion ;  the 
arguments  which  could  divert  so  penetrating  a  mind  from  the 
perception  of  the  truth  cannot  but  merit  consideration;  to 
weigh  their  force  will  serve  to  give  us  a  clearer  insight  into 
the  subject  I  have  imdertaken  to  treat. 

"I  hved,"  says  he,  "for  many  years  in  a  large  city,  in  which 
the  vraters  very  universally  employed  were  very  hard  ;  and, 
although  softer  waters  were  within  their  reach,  the  most  part 
of  the  people  used  only  the  hard.  But  among  this  people  I 
found  no  endemic  diseases ;  and  at  least  none  that  I  could  im- 
pute to  the  water  they  drank ;  and  certainly  none  that  I  did 
not  find  as  frequent  in  a  city  which  I  also  practiced  in  for  many 
years,  whose  inhabitants  very  universally  used  no  other  than  a 
very  soft  water." 

This  reasoning  involves  two  suppositions,  neither  of  which 
appear  to  be  well  founded.  1st.  It  presumes  that  the  bad 
effects  of  water  on  the  body  are  in  consequence  of  its  hardness. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  29 

and  in  proportion  to  that  quality.  But  the  hardness  of  waters 
is  communicated  by  the  earthy  salts ;  -whereas  it  is  the  pu- 
tresc"ent  matter  which  is  the  most  noxious  principle  of  common 
water.  This  putrescent  matter  may  be  more  abundant  in  soft 
waters  than  in  hard ;  as  is  the  case  in  the  New  River  water, 
and  still  more  in  Thames  water.  2dly.  Dr.  Cullen  appears  to 
have  looked  for  some  peculiar  endemic  diseases  to  be  produced 
by  the  use  of  impure  water ;  and,  not  finding  any,  to  have  con- 
cluded that  the  accusations  against  it  are  ill  founded.  But  the 
real  question  is,  What  share  does  it  bear  in  the  production,  not 
of  any  peculiar  endemics,  but  of  the  common  diseases  which 
are  infused  throughout  the  community  :  a  question,  I  appre- 
hend, to  be  answered  only  by  extensive  observation,  or  by  di- 
rect and  appropriate  experiments. 

On  this  head  I  shall  add  but  one  or  two  observations  to  those 
which  I  have  already  offered  in  the  work  to  which  I  have 
above  referred.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  experience  that 
water,  according  to  its  different  qualities,  affects  the  stomach 
with  a  peculiar  feeling,  which  we  call  weight ;  that  the  purest 
water  feels  the  lightest ;  and  what  is  reckoned,  and,  I  believe- 
justly  reckoned,  the  worst,  feels  the  heaviest  on  the  stomach. 
In  healthy  persons  this  sensation  is  little  regarded ;  but  in  dis- 
ease it  becomes  very  distinct,  and  is  often  very  tormenting. 
Sometimes  the  stomach  feels  as  if  it  would  burst ;  sometimes 
the  sensation  is  as  if  a  cord  were  tied  round  the  middle  of  the 
body.  In  another  place  I  have  cited  an  example  of  this  sen- 
sation being  removed  by  the  use  of  pure  water. 

Now  it  is  impossible  that  this  sense  of  weight  and  oppression 
can  be  caused  by  the  mere  difference  of  specific  gravity  be- 
tv/^een  waters  of  different  qualities.  This  is  too  trifling  to  be 
felt ;  and  substances  specifically  heavier  than  these  waters,  solids 
for  example,  or  even  fluid  mercury,  may  be  received  into  the 
stomach,  without  occasioning  any  sensation  of  weight  in  the 
organ.  This  must  be  deemed  therefore  to  be  a  sensation  sui 
generis,  the  specific  effect  of  the  putrescent  matter,  or  what  I 
have  termed  the  Septic  Poison  of  the  water ;  and  it  is  probably 
complicated  of  the  sensation  resulting  .from  the  irritation  of  the 
mucous  surfaee  of  the  stomach,  and  that  attached  to  the  atony 
of  the  muscular  fibres,  yielding  to  the  air  developed  by  an  im- 
perfect digestion,  and,  at  the  same  time,  resisting  the  diveilent 
force.  Here  then  we  have  the  direct  proof  of  the  pernicious 
effect  af  this  matter  upon  the  living  fibre ;  and  there  can  be  no 
difficulty  in  believing  that  the  same  action  which  it  exerts  upon 
*^^e  stomach  in  ti  '3  first  instance,  will  be  exerted  upon  every 


80  VEGETABLE    DIET 

other  living  fibre,  to  "vvhich  it  is  applied.  It  is,  however,  ap- 
plied to  all ;  it  accumulates  in  the  body ;  and  the  more  as  the 
powers  of  elimination  become  more  feeble,  the  action  is  con- 
tinued, unceasing;  and  there  is,  therefore,  no  degree  of  injury, 
even  to  the  complete  destruction  of  the  system,  which  it  may 
not  readily  be  conceived  ultimately  to  produce. 

I  would  observe  further,  that,  with  regard  to  the  noxious 
and  the  deleterious  effect  of  the  stagnant  water  of  marshes, 
there  has  been  but  one  common  sentiment  among  all  writers, 
from  the  days  of  Hippocrates  to  the  present  hour,  in  assigning 
to  this  cause  a  portion  of  the  remarkable  insalubrity  of  such- 
situations.  Examined  hydrostatically,  it  is  found  to  possess  the 
greatest  specific  gravity ;  and  it  is  the  most  loaded  with  foreign 
matter.  But  the  peculiar  noxious  principle  of  these  waters  is 
nothing  but  the  corrupted  animal  and  vegetable  matters  with 
which  they  are  impregnated.  These  matters  are,  therefore, 
poisonous.  In  consequence,  they  ought  to  be  suspected  where- 
ever  they  are  found.  In  inquiring  therefore  into  the  salubrity 
of  waters  in  general,  Or  into  that  of  any  particular  example,  it 
is  this  impregnation  which  I  conceive  ought  to  be  the  chief 
object  of  research.  Simple  earthy  matter  (though  much  has 
been  said  against  it)  has  never  been  shown  to  be  particularly 
unfriendly  to  the  human  system.  Metallic  matter,  of  all  kinds, 
is  a  more  just  object  of  suspicion.  But  the  putrid  or  putrescent 
matter,  the  animal  or  vegetable  substances  in  a  state  of  decom- 
position, is  that  which  is  actively  mischievous.  It  is  immedi- 
ately and  directly  deleterious.  It  is  astonishing  to  consider 
how  greatly  the  influence  of  this  matter  has  been  overlooked, 
even  by  writers  who  were  fully  aware  of  the  general  impor- 
tance of  the  subject.^ 

It  cannot,  I  think,  be  doubted  that  the  inconveniences  which 
have  been  found  to  result  from  the  use  of  water  alone,  as  a 
common  beverage,  have  been  the  principal  motive,  which  has 
induced  men  to  have  recourse  to  spirituous  and  fermented 
liquors  as  a  substitute.  By  these  means  some  of  these  incon- 
veniences have  been  partially  obviated  or  counteracted,  but  at 
the  expense,  probably,  of  still  greater  evils.  But  I  return  to  a 
few  more  general  considerations. 

*  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  the  western  countiy  animals  generally 
— some  say  always — have  diseased  livers;  so  much  so  that  this  partis 
never  used  for  food.  The  inhabitants  too,  who  suffer  generally  so  much 
fr'^m  fevers,  doubtless  have  all  diseased  livers  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 
Tliete  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  bad  water  which  is  so  common 
throughout  that  country,  is  a  prominent  cause  of  the  diseases  of  both  man 
luid  animals  in  those  parts. — S. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES,  :^ 


CHAPTER  III. 

Is  disease  essential  to  the  nature  of  man? — The  locality  of  particular  d  is. 
eases  exemplified  in  remittent  and  intermittent  fevers. — The  hypo- 
thesis of  LinnfBus. — Contagions,  Scurvy,  Bronchocele,  and  Cretin- 
ism.— General  Conclusions. 

The  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  first  and  supreme  Cause,  and 
the  persuasion  that  benevolence  forms  a  part  of  his  nature,  and 
entered,  as  it  were,  into  the  original  scheme  and  intention  of  the 
Creator,  in  the  formation  of  the  universe,  are  so  deeply  im- 
pressed upon  the  human  mind  that  to  dissent  from  them  is  re- 
garded as  a  species  of  impiety,  and  to  avow  this  dissent  as  no 
better  than  downright  madness. 

It  has  been  taught,  both  by  ancient  and  modern  philoso- 
phers, that  the  universe  is,  upon  the  whole,  a  perfect  work, 
or  the  best  that  could  have  been  possibly  made.  It  has  been 
hard,  however,  to  reconcile  the  existence  of  evil  with  this  hy- 
pothesis ;  and  those  who  have  attempted  to  solve  this  knotty 
problem  have  contented  themselves  with  supposing  that  it  has 
been  the  result  of  some  inevitable  necessity.  One  of  the  an- 
cient sages  adopted  this  explanation  to  account  for  the  diseases 
of  men.  Crysippus  was  of  opinion,  that  it  could  ^ever  have 
been  the  aim  or  first  intentic*  of  the  author  of  nature  and  pa- 
rent of  all  good  to  make  men  obnoxious  to  diseases  ;  but  that 
while  he  was  producing  many  excellent  things,  and  forming  his 
work  in  the  best  manner,  other  things  also  arose,  connected  with 
them,  that  were  incommodious,  which  were  not  made  for  their 
own  sakes,  but  were  ptrmitted  as  necessary  consequences  of 
what  was  best. 

This  certainly  does  not  appear  to  be  entertaining  very  ex- 
alted notions  of  divine  power.  To  suppose  either  that  diseases 
are  not  real  evils,  or  to  feign  any  hypothetical  necessity  for 
their  existence,  and  to  pronounce  it  impossible  for  Omnipotence 
itself  to  preserve  the  human  body  from  them  (for  this  account 
involves,  I  think,  one  of  these  suppositions),  appears  an  equal 
extravagance. 

When  we  consider  the  tendency  of  nature  to  perfection  in  all 
her  works,  and  that  this  tendency  is  in  nothing  more  apparent 
than  in  the  structure  of  animal  bodies,  it  appears  indeed  a 
strange  anomaly  that  the  human  frame,  the  masterpiece  of  the 
creation,  should  be  so  liable  to  derangement  and  disease.     If  I 


<B*-i  VEGETABLE    L  ET 

may  say  so  without  irrreverence,  it  appears  as  if  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  designs  had  failed  from  error  and  want  of  wisdom  in 
the  execution.  More  than  half  the  race  perish  in  infancy,  and 
of  the  remainder  a  large  portion  are  the  victims  of  pain  and 
suffering.  Of  those  who  have  strength  sufficient  to  arrive  at 
manhood,  the  greater  part  are  doomed  to  have  little  more  than 
a  glimpse  of  life,  and  to  perish  prematurely.  Of  those  even, 
who  appear  strong  and  healthy,  if  we  examine  narrowly  into 
their  habits  or  their  feelings,  we  shall  find  hardly  an  individual 
w^ho  will  not  acknowledge  some  defect,  some  secret  uneasiness, 
something  that  diminishes  his  present  comfort,  and  Avhich  ex- 
cites apprehensions  for  the  future.  In  some,  the  solids  destined 
to  the  support  of  the  body  are  unequal  to  their  object,  and  the 
bones  yield  to  the  incumbent  weight ;  in  others,  the  moving 
powers  have  a  similar  defcot,  the  muscles  hardly  overcoming 
the  resistance  opposed  to  them.  The  senses  are,  in  many,  dull 
and  imperfect ;  in  many,  they  are  preternaturally  acute.  The 
vital  functions  are  often  performed  laboriously ;  the  circulation 
is  either  sluggish  or  too  rapid;  the  respiration  straitened  or 
hurried ;  the  digestion  is  ill  performed  ;  the  stomach  oppressed 
with  crudities:  the  secretions  irregular;  even  the  element  in 
which  we  are  placed  appears  ill  suited  to  the  organs  to  which 
it  is  destined  to  be  applied ;  some  cannot  bear  the  coldness  of 
the  atmosphere ;  to  others  its  heat  is  equally  intolerable  ;  and 
so  stran^ly  constituted  are  individual  constitutions,  that  an  air 
loaded  with  mephitic  vapors  appears  better  suited  to  them  than 
one  that  is  pure  and  uncontaminated. 

Man  prides  himself  upon  possessing  an  intellect  superior  to 
that  of  all  other  animals,  and  to  take  reason  for  the  guide  of 
all  his  actions.  But  as  far  as  happiness,  or  the  mere  absence 
of  suffering,  is  the  end  of  action,  the  reason  of  man  appears  to 
be  inferior  to  the  animal  instinct.  A  brutal  ignorance  debases 
and  enslaves  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  They  appear  incapa- 
ble of  acquiring  knowledge  ;  of  perceiving  the  connection  of  the 
ideas  which  are  laid  before  them,  or  the  obvious  relations  of 
cause  and  effect.  Thus  they  are  void  of  all  independence  of 
thought  or  principle  ;  a  blind  adherence  to  custom,  or  a  slavish 
submission  to  authority,  becomes  the  rule  of  life,  and  is  sub- 
stituted for  self-government,  and  a  manly  obedience  to  the  voice 
of  truth  and  the  dictates  of  reason. 

The  moral  traits  are  as  much  distorted  as  the  physical.  The 
affections,  which  should  link  man  to  man,  and  make  each  hu- 
man being  regard  his  fellow-creatUiC  as  his  brother,  are 
choked  and  almost  extinguished.     Envy,  hatred,  jealousy,  and 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  33 

ali  the  malignant  passions,  predominate  in  the  human  bosom. 
The  infliction  of  pain  upon  sensitive  beings,  instead  of  exciting 
compassion,  is,  with  the  multitude,  a  source  of  pastime  and 
merriment.  To  such  a  degree  are  the  strongest  instinct-^  ^f  our 
nature  perverted,  that  the  first  principle  of  self-preservaiion  is 
finally  destroyed ;  the  hand  is  raised  against  the  existence  of 
its  possessor,  or  the  parental  arm  against  the  life  of  the 
offspring. 

Such  is  an  outline,  too  faithful,  of  the  habitual  condition, 
perhaps  of  the  majority,  of  the  human  species.  I  omit  the 
still  darker  shades  of  the  picture  ;  the  tragedies  which  perpet- 
ually embitter  domestic  life ;  our  crowded  hospitals,  from  the 
gates  of  v.'hich  shoals  of  supplicants  are,  by  necessity,  repelled ; 
our  surgical  operations,  the  very  thoughts  of  which  make  the 
blood  run  cold ;  and  our  madhouses,  the  interior  of  which  pre- 
sents views  from  which  sensibility  shrinks  with  horror  and  af- 
fright. Can  we  avoid  asking  ourselves,  Is  this  enormous  mass 
of  evil  then  necessary  and  unavoidable  ?  Does  it  result  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  and  the  primitive  organization  of 
man  ?  or,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  not  factitious,  the  conse- 
quence of  an  artificial  mode  of  hfe,  of  corrupt  habits,  or  of  ac- 
cidents which  may  possibly  be  avoided  ?  The  determination 
of  these  questions  is  undoubtedly  of  the  highest  interest  to  the 
whole  human  race.  I  must  confine  myself  within  a  straight 
and  narrow  circle,  and  consider  only  the  physical  evils  of  hu- 
man nature.  If  we  are  forced  to  attribute  these  evils  to  the 
constitution  of  human  nature,  we  must  submit  to  them  as  we 
do  to  tempests  and  earthquakes,  and  the  other  convulsions  of 
nature.  If,  however,  there  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  large 
portion  of  these  calamities  is  the  offspring  of  accident,  of  error, 
or  of  vice,  we  may  expect,  by  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the 
correction  of  abuses,  and,  by  the  introduction  of  rational  habits, 
to  annihilate,  or,  at  least,  greatly  diminish  them.  If  the  pre- 
judices of  the  present  age  are  too  strong  to  allow  any  expecta- 
tion  of  much  instant  benefit,  it  presents  at  least  a  more  pleas- 
ing prospect  of  futurity,  to  animate  the  exertions  of  the  philo- 
sopher and  the  philanthropist.  And  this  view  of  the  subject 
seems  consonant  to  the  ideas  which  appear  implanted  in  every 
well-regulated  mind,  of  the  justice  and  benevolence  of  the 
Deity.  I  shall  here  bring  forward  a  few  facts  which  appear 
favorable  to  it. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  fully  established  and  sufficiently  well 
known,  that  tribes  of  diseases,  which  are  fatal  to  vast  multitudes 
of  persons,  are  fixed  to,  and,  as  it  were,  domiciliated  in  certain 
2* 


34  VEGETABLE    DIET 

situations  and  certain  soils,  and  are  the  direct  product  of  mat- 
ter generated  in  them,  or  of  miasmas  emanating  from  them. 
In  all  countries  that  are  low  and  flat,  overspread  with  lakes  and 
ponds  of  stagnant  water,  and  with  large  marshes,  pestiferous 
exhalations  excite  malignant  fevers  of  the  remittent  or  inter- 
mittent kind,  fluxes,  and  their  attendant  evils.  The  immediate 
agent  of  these  diseases  are  heat  and  moisture  acting  upon  dead 
animal  and  vegetable  matter,  producing  in  them  a  state  of  de- 
composition ;  in  a  word,  certain  forms  of  common  elementary 
matter.  In  some  cases,  these  are  so  active  as  to  produce  in- 
stantaneous death;  at  other  times,  they  act  more  slowl}^  excit- 
ing diseases  of  the  above-mentioned  form,  fatal  to  many,  while 
others  with  difficult}''  escape. 

Examples  of  diseases  of  this  kind  are  abundant  in  the  writ- 
ings both  of  medical  authors  and  of  travelers.  The  works  of 
Piingle,  Cleghorn,  Lind,  and  others,  will  readily  furnish  them. 
The  districts  in  which  they  have  been  most  commonly  observed 
to  be  epidemical,  arc  between  the  tropics  upon  the  coast  of 
Giiinea;  Hungary,  which,  from  the  same  cause,  is  the  most  un- 
healthy country  of  Europe ;  the  environs  of  Venice ;  the  Pontine 
marshes;  the  island  of  St.  Thomas;  Guiana;  Porto-Rico;  Car- 
thagena.  In  the  western  hemisphere  it  has  been  commonly 
called  Yellow  Fever.  P)ut  as  the  immediate  agents  of  these 
eff"ects,  viz.,  dead  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  acted  upon  by 
beat  and  moisture,  are  diflfused  over  the  whole  surface  of  the 
earth,  situations  such  as  those  which  have  been  enumerated  are 
remarkable  only  as  abounding  in  these  agents,  in  the  highest 
degree  of  force  and  concentration.  The  same  eftects  are  pro- 
duced wherever  the  same  causes  exist.  Matter  of  the  same 
kind,  generated  in  sufficient  quantity  and  in  a  due  degree  of 
concentration,  will  generate  fevers  of  these  kinds  in  any  situa- 
tion whatever.  Accordingly  we  find  that  there  are  seasons 
when  such  fevers  are  much  diffused  over  countries  in  which 
they  are  not  endemical.  Agues  are  said  to  have  arisen  some- 
times in  London,  excited  perhaps  by  the  filth  of  the  streets  or 
the  put)-efaction  of  the  markets.  Dr.  Trotter  remarks  that 
they  have  been  observed  to  take  place  on  shipboard.  His 
words  are :  *'  Wood  improperly  seasoned  will,  on  certain  occa- 
sions, produce  a  sickly  crew.  After  a  cruise  of  rainy  and  even 
foggy  weather  we  often  meet  with  fevers  in  a  ship,  attended 
with  all  the  essential  symptoms  and  forms  of  th6  remittent  kind, 
occasioned  by  marshy  effluvia.  It  is  probable  that  the  cause  of 
these  fevers  is  the  same  in  a  ship  as  on  land." 

Nor  are  diseases  of  this  form  the  only  consequences  of  the 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  85 

pestiferous  miasmas,  and  other  morbific  causes,  which  are  accu- 
mulated in  those  situations.  The  continued  action  of  these 
causes  changes  and  modifies  the  system,  imprints  upon  it  a 
pecuhar  character,  and  engenders  habitual  disease,  or  an  habi- 
tual predisposition  to  disease  in  those  who  escape  the  more 
violent  and  fatal  attacks  of  malignant  fevers.  Obstinate  hypo- 
chondriacal affections,  elephantiasis,  and  obstinate  leprous  dis- 
eases, and  premature  old  age,  are  said  to  be  habitual  to  the 
unfortunate  inhabitants  of  these  ill-fated  spots.  They  carry, 
imprinted  in  their  form  and  features,  the  marks  of  the  insalu- 
brity of  their  residence  ;  and  thus  verify  the  ancient  remark  of 
Hippocrates,  "  that  the  constitutions  of  men  are  conformable  to 
the  soil  which  they  inhabit." 

In  illustration  of  this  fact  I  may  cite  the  statement* of  Bruce. 
"  At  Waldubba,"  he  says,  "in  Abyssinia,  violent  fevers  per- 
petually reign.  The  inhabitants  are  all  the  color  of  a  corpse." 
At  Gondar,  the  capital  of  this  coimtry,  the  same  is  said  to  be 
the  case.  An  account  of  Captain  Turner  is  still  more  remark- 
able, and  deserves,  I  think,  to  be  transcribed.  It  is  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms :  "  At  the  foot  of  the  Bootan  Mountains,  a  plain 
extends  for  about  thirty  miles  in  breadth,  choked  rather  than 
clothed  with  the  most  luxuriant  vegetation.  The  exhalations 
necessarily  arising  from  the  multitude  of  springs  which  the 
vicinity  of  the  mountains  produces,  are  collected  and  confined 
by  these  almost  impervious  woods,  and  generate  an  atmosphere 
through  which  no  traveler  ever  passed  with  impunity.  The 
effects  were  fatal  to  Captain  Jones,  and  to  a  great  part  of  the 
troops  that  served  under  him  in  1772;  and  Colonel  Sir  John 
Cuming,  one  of  the  few  that  escaped  with  life,  still  feels  its  in- 
jurious consequences.  Yet  even  this  spot  is  not  without  inhab- 
itants ;  although  its  influence  has  wholly  debased  in  them  the 
form,  the  size,  and  the  strength  of  human  creatures." 

We  may  conclude  from  these  facts  (it  is  indeed  the  reason 
of  my  producing  them),  that  these  diseases  which  have  swept 
away,  and  are  daily  sweeping  away,  large  portions  of  the  human 
race,  are  not  occasioned  by  any  debility  or  defect  in  the  human 
constitution,  but  by  the  operation  of  extraneous  and  foreign 
causes.  They  are  not  therefore  essential  to  the  nature  of  man, 
but  are  accidental,  and  produced  by  the  situations  in  which  he 
is  placed.  And  in  this  particular  case  the  immediate  agents 
are  the  common  (^lenrents  of  nature,  the  matter  which  enters 
into  the  composition  of  organic  beings  in  general,  Avhe^her  ani- 
mals or  vegetables,  but,  with  its  properties,  changed  by  spon- 
taneous decomposition.     By  this  decomposition  they  are  ren- 


36  VEGETABLE    DIET*? 

dered  destructive  and  poisonous.*^'  '-They  are  peilmps  the  most 
striking  examples  that  can  be  produced  of  the  suddenly  dele- 
terious effects  of  these  agents,  with  the  exception  only  of  those 
vapors  which  produco  instant  death,  or  the  poisonous  winds 
of  the  African  deserts. 

The  suddenness  of  the  effect,  w^hen  a  person  is  placed  in  the 
situation  in  v/hich  the  causes  of  these  diseases  are  present,  shows 
them  to  be  produced  by  pestiferous  exhalations,  and  not  to  be 
immediately  connected  with  the  insalubrity  of  the  water.  The 
exposure  of  a  few  hours  is  frequently  enough  to  engender  a  fatal 
attack  of  disease.  It  is  said  that  to  sleep  in  the  country  adjoin- 
ing the  Tacazze,  in  Abyssinia,  is  death.  However,  at  no  re- 
mote period  the  occasional  cause  of  these  fevers  Avas  not  under- 
stood ;  the  observations  of  physicians  and  surgeons  employed 
in  the  naval  and  military  services  have  principally  disclosed  it. 
LinnaBUS  ascribed  them  to  the  insalubrity  of  marshy  water ;  and 
supported  his  hypothesis  by  much  plausible  reasoning.  It  is 
needless  to  examine  the  arguments  he  has  employed.  I  men- 
tion the  fact  only  to  show  the  suspicions  entertained  by  the 
most  eminent  observers  with  regard  to  the  salubrity  of  water. 
It  is  indeed  highly  probable  that  it  is  a  powerful  concurrent 
agent  in  forming  the  unhealthy  state  of  constitution  of  persons 
residing  in  these  situations. 

The  consideration  of  contagious  diseases  leads  to  the  same 
conclusions  as  the  remittent  and  intermittent  fever.  This  is  a 
large  class  of  diseases,  and  they  cut  off  constantly  numerous 
victims  from  society.  Plague,  putrid  and  nervous  fevers  (under 
the  common  denomination  of  typhus),  small-pox,  measles,  hoop- 
ing-cough, scarlatina  (including  the  putrid  sore  throat),  syphilis, 
and  chicken-pox,  are  the  principal  examples  of  the  most  severe 
diseases  of  this  tribe. f  They  are  all  of  them  produced  by  mat- 
ter or  exha^tions  from  the  human  body.  As  there  are  socie- 
ties of  men  in  which  they  are  unknown,  and  as,  for  the  most 
part,  they  appear  to  have  arisen  at  no  very  remote  period, 

*  If  an  arsenical  oxide  be  composed  of  common  elementary  matter,  so 
loosely  united  as  to  be  capable  of  decomposition,  it  may  be  easily  con- 
ceived that  dm'ing  the  decomposition  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  in 
which  their  elements  unite  into  new  forms,  and  in  an  infinite  variety  of 
proportions,  some  may  form  an  arsenical  oxide  itself.  Again,  if  this  most 
deleterious  poison  be  composed  of  the  common  elements,  it  is  very  con- 
ceivable that  other  deleterious  matter,  not  exactly  the  same  in  kind,  but 
as  destructive,  may  be  formed  out  cf  the  same  elements. 

t  Hydrophobia,  the  most  terrible  o'  the  contagious  diseases,  is  uniformly 
fatal ;  but  is,  fortunately,  so  rare  as  not  to  deserve  mention  as  one  of  tha 
diseases  affecting  the  bulk  of  society.  ,,, 


IN    CHRONIC    DlSEAaZS  37 

there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  diseases  are  all  of  them  arti- 
ficial and  factitious,  the  product  of  society,  and  not  an  essential 
condition  annexed  to  the  existence  of  man.  The  multitudes, 
therefore,  who  have  perished  by  these  diseases  may  be  truly 
said  to  have  been  the  victims,  not  of  nature — not  of  any  defect 
in  tlie  organization  or  powers  of  the  human  frame — but  of  the 
artificial  modes  of  life,  or  of  some  other  accidents  and  misfor- 
tunes incident  to  society. 

Scurvy  is  another  disease  which  has  cut  off  vast  multitudes 
of  men.  It  has  been  sativsfactorily  traced  to  an  improper  sys- 
tem of  dieting,  and  particularly  to  the  want  of  a  due  sujDply  of 
fresh  vegetable  matter.  It  is,  therefore,  wholly  an  artificial 
disease. 

The  most  familiar  and  v/ell-known  example  of  disease  being 
produced  by  locality  is  that  of  Bronchocele  or  Goitre.  It  re- 
ceives its  name  even  from  the  districts  which  it  infests :  being 
called  with  us  the  Derbyshire  Throat,  and  even  the  Coventry 
Throat.  These  are  the  enormous  scrofulous  tumors,  which 
Hoffman  says  are  caused  by  the  use  of  hard  and  rough  waters 
in  mountainous  districts.  The  valleys  of  mountainous  countries 
are  its  favorite  residence,  though  itis  by  no  means  confined  to 
such  spots.  The  valleys  where  the  disorder  is  most  frequent, 
are  those  surrounded  by  very  high  mountains,  sheltered  from 
the  currents  of  air,  and  exposed  to  the  direct,  and,  still  more, 
to  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun.  Even  under  a  tropical  sun,  the 
same  concurrence  of  causes  produces  similar  effects.  In  Savoy 
and  Switzerland,  among  the  Pyrenean  mountains,  in  the  island 
of  Sumatra,  and  in  certain  parts  of  Tartary,  the  bronchocele  is 
endemical,  and  there  are  many  corresponding  features  of  resem- 
blance in  the  situation  where  it  is  found.  M.  Saussure  asserts, 
that  in  the  Alpine  countries  he  never  observed  goitre  in  any 
places  which  are  elevated  more  than  500  or  600  toises  (3200 
and  3840  English  feet)  above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  he  noticed 
them  in  those  valleys  where  the  heat  is  concentrated,  and  the 
air  stagnates ;  and  observed  that  they  usually  cease  where  the 
valley  terminates  and  the  country  expands  into  a  large  plain. 

In  situations  favorable  to  the  production  of  this  disease,  it 
affects  animals  as  well  as  the  human  species.  Even  dogs  are 
said  to  be  subject  to  it.  It  is  asserted  also,  apparently  upon 
good  authority,  that  it  affects  both  sheep  and  horned  cattle. 

This  is  the  disease  which  has,  with  the  greatest  confidence, 
been  ascribed  to  the  operation  of  unwholesome  water,  and  it  re- 
quires, indeed,  a  wonderful  degree  of  skepticism  to  aoubt  that 
this  is,  if  not  the  sole,  at  least  a  powerful  antecedent  and  con- 


38  VEGETABLE    DIET  t 

curring  cause.  Popular  opinion  attributes  it  to  this  every 
where :  in  Europe,  in  North  and  in  South  America ;  and  many 
respectable  writers  have  thought  this  opinion  well  founded. 
Hoffman  says  that  a  particular  well,  in  the  village  of  Flach 
(ditionis  TigurincR),  is  called  by  a  term  answering  to  fons  stru- 
marum,  from  its  producing  these  swellings  of  the  neck.  Mr. 
De  Luc,  and  Mr.  Coxe,  who  have  made  many  observations  on 
this  disease,  have  espoused  this  notion ;  and  the  much  more 
weighty  authority  of  the  elder  Heberden  is  on  the  same  side.  He 
says,  "  I  think  that  the  cause  of  the  bronchocele  is  to  be  sought 
for  in  the  water,  a  chemical  investigation  of  which  is  therefore  a 
great  desideratum !"  Those  who  have  opposed  it,  appear  not 
to  have  done  so  for  sufficient  reasons.  It  is  confessed  by  Dr. 
Barton,  Avho  is  not  favorable  to  this  opinion,  "  that  the  water 
in  that  part  of  the  state  of  New  York  in  which  I  have  observed 
the  goitre  to  prevail,  besides  holding  in  solution  and  diffusion 
a  portion  of  calcareous  eijrth,  appeared  to  be  otherwise  very 
impure,  and  was  certainly  unpleasant  to  the  taste."  In  other 
districts  the  same  thing  was  noticed  still  more  strongly.  Others, 
who  speak  slightingly  of  this  opinion,  content  themselves  with 
asserting  that  the  water  was  pellucid  and  well  tasted.  Such  is 
the  objection  of  Dr.  Reeves ;  an  objection  certainly  of  very  little 
weight,  when  unsupported  by  more  particular  examinations. 

Mr.  Coxe  was  informed  by  a  surgeon  practicing  in  Switzer- 
land, that  his  principal  method  of  preventing  goitre  consisted  in 
removing  the  patients  from  the  places  where  the  springs  deposit 
a  copious  calcareous  sediment,  which  is  called  by  the  inhabitants 
Taf;  and  if  that  could  not  be  effected,  by  forbidding  the  use 
of  water  that  was  not  purified.  This  surgeon  even  practiced 
distillation  for  the  purpose  of  purifying  the  water. 

On  this  subject  I  can  speak  a  little  from  my  own  experience. 
In  the  parish  of  Home,  in  the  county  of  Surrey  (a  village  six  or 
seven  miles  to  the  south  of  Ryegate),  is  the  house  of  a  laboi'ing 
man  whose  family  consisted  of  five  daughters.  Of  these,  four, 
while  girls,  become  afl\3cted  with  bronchocele.  In  all,  the  dis- 
ease was  formed  on  this  spot;  but  it  continued,  and  even  in- 
creased after  they  had  left  it,  going  out  to  service.  I  saw  one 
of  them,  a  woman  perhaps  of  twenty-four,  married  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  in  her  the  gland  continued  swelled ;  but  she  said  it 
was  much  diminished.  The  domestic  water  of  this  spot  was  a 
soft  water  mingling  readily  with  soap ;  it  had  a  peculiar  and  not 
agreeable  taste;  it  deposited  a  small  sediment  by  boiling,  and 
showed  (by  oxalate  of  ammonia)  a  slight  calcareous  impregna- 
tion, but  no  more,  probably,  than  is  common  to  all  the  domes- 


IN    CHRONIC    2ISEASKS.  30 

tic  waters  of  this  country.  I  used  the  process  described  in  an- 
other place,  by  which  I  determined  that  it  was  much  impreg- 
nated with  putrescent  matter,  which  I  beUeve  to  be  much  more 
noxious  than  the  calcareous  impregnation;  and  I  doubt  not, 
therefore,  that  this  water  had  an  active  share  in  forming  the 
diseased  constitutions  of  these  females. 

Without  speaking  positively  on  the  antecedent  causes  of  this 
disease,  I  think  the  most  tenable  hypothesis  seems  to  be  that 
which  attributes  it  to  the  continued  operation,  with  an  inferior 
degree  of  force,  of  the  causes  which  excite  the  intermittent  and 
remittent  fever.  The  village  of  Home  is  low  and  damp,  near 
the  banks  of  the  Mole ;  and  formerly  agues  were  common  there. 
The  heat  and  confined  moisture  of  the  places  where  it  is  en- 
demical,  point  strongly  to  causes  of  this  nature.  Mr.  Marsden 
saj'^s  that  in  the  valleys  of  the  mountains  of  Sumatra.,  where 
this  disease  is  common,  there  is  a  dense  fog  every  morning 
which  is  hardly  dissipated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  till  the  after- 
noon. It  is  also  affirmed  that  where  this  disease  is  common, 
the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  are  indolent  in  their  disposition; 
and,  in  consequence,  filthy,  and  having  made  little  progress  in 
civilization ;  they  are  said  to  be  extremely  wan  and  livid,  and 
much  subject  to  intermitting  fevers.  But  whatever  are  the 
antecedent  causes  of  bronchocele,  it  is  certain  that  they  must 
be  applied  for  some  years  before  they  produce  their  full  effect, 
and  that  the  effect  will  remain  for  a  very  considerable  time, 
after  removing  from  the  situation  in  which  the  disease  was 
generated. 

Whatever,  too,  are  these  causes  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  are  local  causes,  and  some  modifications  of  common  ele- 
mentary matter.  Other  examples  of  diseases,  whose  antece- 
dent causes  are  local,  might  readily  be  adduced ;  but  I  have 
said  enough  for  my  immediate  object.  From  the  facts  brought 
forward,  therefore,  I  shall  make,  in  this  place,  one  or  two  con- 
clusions, which,  though  very  obvious  and  conformable  to  many 
other  facts  in  the  history  of  disease,  are  little  considered  in 
speculation,  and  still  less  acted  upon  in  the  conduct  of  life. 

Where  bronchocele  is  common,  a  species  of  idiotcy  of  the 
worst  kind,  under  the  name  of  Cretinism,  is  also  prevalent,  and 
is  obviously  the  effect  of  the  same  local  circumstances.  These 
miserable  objects  are  radically  defective  in  their  organization : 
they  are  bereaved  of  all  the  powers,  faculties,  and  privileges  of 
humanity,  and  hardly  preserve  i\m  form  of  human  beings.  We 
may  therefore  conclude,  that  there  is  no  degree  of  morbid  de- 
viation from  the  healthy  powers  and  structure  of  the  body 


40  VEGETABLE    DIET 

which  cannot  be  produced  by  the  continued  operation  of  local 
causes.* 

But  under  the  very  circumstances  in  which  these  monstrous 
deviations  from  nature  are  produced,  many  are  equal  to  all  the 
common  offices  of  life,  and  enjoy  apparent  good  health.  In 
the  human  body  itself  there  is  a  certain  degree  of  resisting 
power ;  in  some  stronger ;  in  others  more  feeble ;  the  most  sus- 
ceptible are  those  which  most  suffer.  This  adds  to  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  inquiry.  Men  cannot  easily  apprehend  that  the 
things  with  which  they  support  themselves,  with  little  or  no 
evident  uneasiness,  can  be  the  cause  of  disease  or  of  death  in 
others;  and  from  hence  arise  contention,  cavihng,  and  mis- 
placed ridicule.  But  to  those  who  consider  the  wonderful  and 
infinite  variety  in  the  human  constitution,  a  corresponding  va- 
riety in  the  agencies  of  the  same  substances  on  different  consti- 
tutions can  offer  no  difficulty ;  nor  is  any  fact  in  the  history  of 
human  nature  more  firmly  established  by  evidence. 

*  "  The  body  of  these  poor  creatures  is  stunted,  their  height  not  exceed- 
ing four  feet.  There  is  a  total  want  of  due  proportion  between  it  and  the 
other  parts,  the  height  of  the  head  with  reference  to  the  body  being  from 
one  fourth  to  one  fifth,  instead  of  one  eighth,  the  natural  proportion ;  the 
neck  is  strong,  and  bent  downward ;  the  upper  limbs  reacli  below  the 
knees,  and  the  arm  is  shorter  than  the  fore-arm ;  the  chest  narrow,  the 
abdomen  hemispherical,  and  of  a  length  not  exceeding  the  height  of  the 
head ;  the  thighs,  with  the  haunches,  of  greater  width  than  the  shoulders, 
and  shorter  than  the  legs,  the  calves  of  which  are  wanting ;  the  feet  and 
toes  distorted.  In  the  head,  the  masticating  organs,  the  lower  jaw,  and 
the  nose,  preponderate  considerably  over  the  organs  of  sense  and  intelli- 
gence ;  the  skull  is  depressed,  and  forms  a  lengthened  and  angular  ellipsis ; 
the  receding  forehead  presents  internally  large  frontal  sinuses,  to  which 
the  brain  has  yielded  part  of  its  place ;  the  top  of  the  head  is  flattened, 
instead  of  being  vaulted ;  the  occiput  projects  but  slightly,  and  runs  almost 
even  with  the  nape  of  the  neck,  as  in  ruminating  animals.  The  face  is 
neither  oval  nor  round,  but  spread  out  in  width  ;  the  eyes  are  far  apart, 
elightly  diverging,  small,  and  deep-seated  in  their  orbits ;  the  pupil  con- 
tracted, and  not  very  sensitive  to  light ;  the  eyelids,  except  when  morbidly 
swollen,  are  flaccid  and  pendent.  Their  look  is  an  unmeaning  stare,  and 
turns  with  indifference  from  every  thing  that  is  not  eatable.  The  elon- 
gated form  of  the  lower  jaw,  the  thick  and  padded  lips,  give  them  a 
greater  resemblance  to  ruminating  creatures  than  to  man.  The  tongue  is 
rather  cylindrical  than  flat,  and  the  saliva  is  constantly  running  from  the 
angles  of  their  mouth.  Enlargement  of  the  thyroid  glands  generally  pre- 
vails, sometimes  to  an  enormous  extent.  Indeed,  this  appearance  is  com- 
monly considered  as  a  distinguishing  sign  of  cretinism.  The  other  glands 
of  the  throat  are  also  obstructed.  Many  of  these  poor  wretches  are  both 
deaf  and  dumb;  yet  do  they  appear  unconscious  of  their  miserable  exist- 
ence. Stretched  out  or  gathered  up  under  the  solar  rays,  their  head 
drooping  in  idiotic  apathy,  they  ars  only  roused  from  their  torpor  when 
food  is  presented  to  them." — P-.  Millingen's  Curiosities  of  Medical  JEr- 
perience. — S. 


N    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  41 

The  diseases  to  wliicli  we  have  now  particularly  adverted, 
or  at  least  the  contagions,  and  those  obviously  originating  in 
locality,  form  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  whole  number 
which  infest  society,  and  occasion  such  an  immense  mortality. 
The  small-pox  alone  has  often  been  the  occasion  of  one  fourth 
part  of  the  annual  mortality ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that, 
now  that  it  has  been  in  a  great  degree  suppressed  by  vaccina- 
tion, the  other  contagions  and  the  diseases  which  seem  to  arise 
spontaneously  in  the  system  will,  in  a  great  measure,  supply  its 
place.  Now  I  would  not  dwell  too  strongly  upon  an  argument 
merely  analogical ;  nor  say  that  because  tliis  large  class  of  dis- 
eases is  evidently  artificial,  all  others  must  be  so  likewise. 
Analogy  is  but  a  fallacious  guide ;  nor  ought  it  ever  to  be  con- 
fided in  when  it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  direct  evidence.  But  so 
much  may  be  said  with  perfect  fairness.  As  a  large  portion 
of  the  diseases  which  cut  men  off  in  civil  society  are  proved  to 
be  artificial,  and  there  is  reason  to  suspect  the  same  thing  of 
others  in  which  so  direct  a  proof  cannot  be  obtained,  there  can 
be  nothing  extravagant  or  absurd  in  the  supposition  that  they 
all  are  artificial,  and  to  be  traced  to  some  morbific  causes  either 
of  circumstances  or  manners.  And  should  this  hypotheis,  after 
due  investigation,  prove  correct,  there  can  be  nothing  absurd, 
extravagant,  or  enthusiastic  in  the  hope  that,  finally,  successful 
methods  may  be  discovered,  either  of  treating  them  when  torm- 
ed,  or,  at  least,  of  preventing  their  formation. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Mortality  subject  to  fixed  laws. — Erronetus  opinions  on  this  subject.— 
The  artificial  nature  and  identity  of  constitutional  disease. 

If  these  facts  render  it  highly  probable  that  locality,  and  other 
accidents  of  life,  foreign  to  the  body  itself,  are  the  cirrmnstances 
which  chiefly  influence  the  health,  the  same  truth  is  placed  be- 
yond controversy  by  the  observations  that  have  been  made,  in 
the  mass,  upon  the  human  species.  Bills  of  mortality,  surveys, 
or  parochial  registers,  have  afforded  the  materials  of  these  ob- 
servations. To  illustrate  this  position,  I  shall  make  use  of  the 
statements  and  inferences  contained  in  the  essays  which  form 
a  part  of  Dr.  Price's  "  Observations  on  Reversionary  Pay- 
ments'^  etc.     I  cannot  follow  a  safer  guide. 


4S  VEGETABLE    DIET 

From  these  it  appears,  that  in  every  particular  place  there  is 
an  invariable  law  which  governs  the  waste  of  human  life.  In 
single  years,  owing  to  the  seasons,  to  the  absence  or  prevalence 
of  epidemics,  or  other  accidental  circumstances,  the  quantity  of 
disease  may  vary,  and  the  number  of  deaths  be  less  or  greater. 
But  taking  the  average  of  a  series  of  years  together,  the  same 
total  numbers  have  been  found  to  die  in  the  same  situations,  in 
the  equal  successive  periods  of  time.  These  facts  are  estab- 
lished by  observations  taken  from  the  bills  of  London,  of  North- 
ampton, of  Norwich,  in  England,  and  of  many  other  places  in 
various  parts  of  Europe.  In  situations  moderately  healthy,  as 
in  moderate-sized  towns,  the  rates  of  decrease  have  .been  found 
to  coincide  very  nearly  with  the  hypothesis  of  Mr.  de  Moivre, 
who,  assuming  86  years  to  be  the  utmost  extent  of  hfe,  sup- 
posed an  equal  decrement  of  life  through  all  its  stages,  till  it 
was  finally  extinguished.  For  example,  of  56  persons  alive  at 
30  years  of  age,  one  will  die  every  year  till,  in  56  years,  they 
will  be  all  dead.  The  same  will  happen  to  46  persons  at  40, 
in  46  years,  and  so  on,  for  all  other  ages.  At  most  ages  be- 
tween 30  and  VO  or  75,  the  results  of  this  hypothesis  are  very 
nearly  conformable  to  actual  observations^  But  both  in  the 
earlier  and  in  the  later  stages  of  life,  the  law  of  decrease  is  very 
different.  In  London  also,  and  in  large  cities,  in  general  the 
current  of  hfe  flows  with  greater  rapidity.  In  the  country,  on 
the  other  hand,  communities  are  more  healthy,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, life  is  expended  more  slowly. 

As  life  at  all  ages  wastes  according  to  invariable  laws,  so 
likewise  does  it  at  a  given  age.  In  consequence,  the  expecta- 
tion of  life  either  at  birth,  or  at  any  given  age,  that  is  to  say, 
the  mean  continuance  of  any  given,  single,  joint,  or  surviving 
hves,  may,  from  tables  properly  constructed,  be  calculated  with 
mathematical  certainty. 

The  proportions  between  the  whole  numbers  hving  at  any 
age  and  upward,  and  the  whole  number  of  the  community,  is 
a  fixed  proportion.  This  fact  is  established  by  observation,  and 
is  indeed  a  consequence  of  the  invariable  laws  according  to 
which  human  life  is  expended. 

From  these  documents  the  havoc  made  in  human  life,  by 
collecting  multitudes  of  men  together  in  great  cities,  is  fully 
demonstrated.  There  is  no  stage  of  life  in  which  this  perni- 
cious influence  is  not  evident,  but  it  is  most  remarkable  in  the 
earliest  stages.  In  London,  according  to  the  most  moderate 
computation,  half  the  number  born  die  under  three  years  of 
age;  in  Vienna  and  Stockholm,  under  two.     And  other  things 


IN    CHIiOMC    DISEASES.  48 

being  equal,  the  insalubrity  of  towns  appears  to  be  in  propor- 
tion to  their  size. 

The  proportion  of  persons  who  die  annually  in  great  towns, 
is  found  to  be  one  nineteenth  or  one  twentieth  of  the  whole 
population.  In  moderate  towns,  it  is  from  one  twenty-third  to 
one  twenty-eighth.  In  the  country,  the  proportion  has  been 
found  to  be  from  one  thirty-fifth  or  one  fortieth  to  one  fiftieth 
or  one  sixtieth.  In  London,  the  number  of  years  which  a  child 
at  birth  has  been  found,  upon  an  average,  to  reach,  is  rather 
less  than  twenty.  In  Norwich,  half  die  under  five  years ;  m 
Northampton,  under  ten.  In  the  parish  of  Holy  Cross,  near 
Salop,  the  expectation  of  a  child  at  birth  is  thirty-three  years  : 
one  half  the  inhabitants  live  to  thirty  years  of  age.  At  Ack- 
worth,  in  Yorkshire,  half  the  inhabitants  live  to  the  age  of  forty- 
six.  In  the  town  of  Manchester,  one  twenty-eighth  part  of  the 
inhabitants  die  annually ;  in  the  country,  in  its  immediate  vicin- 
ity, the  number  is  not  more  than  one  fifty-sixth  part. 

Large  cities  are  as  unfavorable  to  longevity  as  they  are  destruc- 
tive of  infant  life,  and  unfriendly  to  health  at  every  period.  In 
country  places  it  is  the  reverse.  At  Holy  Cross,  one  in  eleven 
and  a  half  of  the  whole  population  die  at  upward  of  eighty  years 
of  age.  At  Ackworth,  one  fourteenth  of  the  inhabitants  reach 
the  same  age.  At  Northampton,  the  proportion  is  one  twenty- 
second  part ;  at  Norwich,  one  twenty-seventh.  But  in  Lon- 
don only  one  in  forty  arrives  at  this  age ;  whereas,  if  other 
things  were  equal,  the  proportion  in  London  ought  to  be  greater 
than  in  other  places,  since  at  least  one  fourth  of  its  inhabitants 
are  persons  who  come  into  London  from  the  country,  in  the 
most  robust  period  of  life,  at  which  the  probability  of  living  to 
old  age  is  the  greatest.  Of  the  natives  of  London,  not  more 
than  one  in  sixty  attains  the  age  of  four- score. 

Though  villages  and  country  places  are  more  healthy  than 
towns,  and  that  in  a  degree  to  excite  astonishment  in  those  who 
are  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  facts,  yet  there  is  a  great 
diversity  in  the  healthiness  of  different  villages  and  country 
places.  This  demonstrates  and  exemplifies  the  important  in- 
fluence of  locality  in  the  production  of  disease,  and  on  the 
length  of  human  life.  Marshy  situations,  conformably  to  what 
has  been  already  said  of  their  general  insalubrity,  are  the  most 
unfavorable  to  the  health,  insomuch  that  they  are  as  destruc- 
tive of  life  as  large  cities.  Dr.  Price  has,  in  the  following  par- 
agraph, strikingly  contrasted  the  different  salubrity  of  dif- 
ferent parishes  in  the  small  district  of  Vaud,  in  the  county  ot 
Be  ne. 


44  VEGETABLE    DIET 

''  One  half  of  all  born  in  the  mountains  live  to  the  age  of  4*7. 
In  the  marshy  parish,  one  half  hve  only  to  the  age  of  25.  In 
the  hills,  1  in  20  of  all  that  are  born  live  to  80.  In  the  marshy 
parish,  only  1  in  52  reaches  this  age.  In  the  hills^  a  person  aged 
40  has  a  chance  of  80  to  1  for  living  a  year.  In  the  marshy 
parish,  his  chance  of  living  a  year  is  not  30  to  1.  In  the  hills, 
persons  aged  20,  30,  and  40,  have  an  even  chance  for  living  41, 
33,  and  25  years,  respectively.  In  the  fenny  parish,  persons  at 
those  ages  have  an  even  chance  of  living  only  30,  23,  and  15 
years." 

The  average  mortality  of  England  and  Wales  is  calculated,  in 
the  year  1810,  to  be  1  in  49.  In  the  parts  subject  to  the  ague, 
Kent,  Essex,  Cambridgeshire,  and  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire, 
the  mortality  is  above  this  average.  At  Boston,  in  the  fens  of 
Lincolnshire,  the  mortality  is  1  in  2Y.  At  Stamford,  which  is  in 
the  dry  and  upland  division  of  the  same  county,  it  is  only  1  in  50, 

The  duration  of  human  life,  then,  is  regulated  by  fixed  and 
invariable  laws.  Nor  does  it  at  all  affect  the  general  deduc- 
tions drawn  from  these  facts,  though  the  observations  on  which 
they  are  founded  should  not  be  correctly  applicable  to  the  pre- 
sent state  of  things.  It  is  thought,  and  probably  with  reason, 
that  the  healthiness  both  of  this  empire  and  of  the  metropolis 
is  improved  since  the  time  when  Dr.  Price  published  his  obser- 
vations. Dr.  Heberden,  the  younger,  estimates  the  present  rate  of 
mortality  in  London  to  be  1  in  30  nearly ;  a  prodigious  improve- 
ment if  it  be  just!  But  it  has  been  always  found  that  the  ex- 
ternal circumstances  of  society  remaining  unchanged,  the  rate 
of  mortality  is  uniform ;  and  when  this  rate  has  been  found  to 
undergo  any  considerable  and  permanent  alteration,  it  may  be 
traced  to  some  corresponding  change  in  these  circumstances. 
The  extension  of  agriculture ;  draining  and  enclosure  of  wastes ; 
cleansing  of  towns ;  ventilation  of  private  houses ;  improvements 
in  diet  ar.d  clothing ;  such,  in  general,  are  the  sources  of  im- 
proved health  and  prolonged  life.  I  suspect  myself  that  the 
increased  cultivation  of  the  potato,  and  its  very  general  use 
among  the  laboring  classes  of  London,  has,  more  than  any 
other  single  cause,  contributed  to  the  improved  health  of  the 
metropolis.* 

A  fact  related  by  Mr.  Malthus,  with  regard  to  the  town  of 
Geneva,  proves  how  great  a  change  has  really  taken  place  in 

*  I  have  heard  it  suggested,  not  perhaps  without  reason,  that  the  sub- 
Etituiiou  of  cotton  for  woolen  clothing  has  been  the  cause  of  the  disap- 
pearance in  so  great  a  degree,  of  late  years,  of  the  low  contagious  or 
typhus  fever. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  45 

the  .same  spot,  and  at  no  very  distant  period  of  time.  In  this 
town,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  probability  of  life,  or  the 
age  to  which  half  the  born  lived,  was  only  4.883 — rather  less 
than  four  years  and  nine  tenths;  and  the  mean  life  18.511 — 
about  eighteen  years  and  a  half.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
the  probability  of  life  was  11.607 — above  eleven  years  and  a 
half;  the  mean  life  23.358.  In  the  eighteenth  century  the  pro- 
bability of  life  had  increased  to  27.183 — twenty-seven  years 
and  nearly  a  fifth ;  and  the  mean  life  to  thirty- two  years  and 
a  fifth. 

The  conclusions  which  forced  themselves  upon  the  mind  of 
the  enlightened  and  respectable  writer  who  has  principally  fur- 
ifished  me  with  these  materials,  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  in 
his  own  language:  ''Death,"  says  Mr.  Price,  "is  an  evil  to 
which  the  order  of  Providence  has  subjected  every  inhabitant 
of  this  earth;  but  to  men  it  has  been  rendered  unspeakably 
more  an  evil  than  it  was  designed  to  be.  The  greatest  part  of 
that  black  catalogue  of  diseases  which  ravage  human  life,  is  the 
offspring  of  the  tenderness,  the  luxury,  and  the  corruptions  in- 
troduced by  the  vices  and  false  refinements  of  civil  society. 
That  delicacy  which  is  injured  by  every  breath  of  air,  and  that 
rottenness  of  constitution  which  is  the  effect  of  indolence,  in- 
temperance, and  debauchery,  was  never  intended  by  the  Author 
of  nature ;  and  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  not  lay  the 
foundation  of  numberless  sufferings,  and  terminate  in  premature 
and  miserable  deaths."  To  the  same  purpose,  says  another 
writer  who  is  very  competent  to  form  a  correct  opinion,  when 
his  judgment  is  not  warped  by  a  favorite  hypothesis :  "Diseases 
have  been  generally  considered  as  the  inevitable  inflictions  of 
Providence ;  but  perhaps  the  greater  part  of  them  may  more 
justly  be  considered  as  indications  that  we  have  offended  against 
some  of  the  laws  of  nature."  When  persons  of  enlarged  minds, 
and  who  are  unfettered  by  professional  prejudices,  arrive  at  the 
same  conclusions,  it  affords  no  weak  presumption  that  they  are 
justly  formed. 

These  intelligent  writers,  then,  have  concluded  that  our  dis- 
eases are,  for  the  most  part,  artificial.  But  we  must  not  con- 
fine ourselves  to  vague  and  barren  generalities.  It  is  essential 
to  view  the  subject  still  more  closely,  and  attend  more  exactly 
to  the  consequences  which  flow  irresistibly  from  the  data  which 
have  been  established.  This  is  the  more  necessary  as  there  are, 
I  think,  many  incorrect  notions  afloat  on  these  subjects,  and 
many  who  are  acquainted  with  the  facts  do  not  appear  im- 
pressed with  their  proper  consequences. 


'46  VEGETABLir  DIET 

We  may  say  for  certain,  that  it  is  not  the  fact  that  it  is  an 
established  law  of  nature  that  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
race  must  perish  in  infancy,  or  in  very  early  youth.  And  yet 
this  is  both  asserted,  and  appears  to  be  believed,  by  some  of 
our  best  medical  writers.  To  this  purpose  Dr.  Woolcombe, 
influenced  evidently  by  the  principled  of  Mr.  Malthus,  says  (I 
quote  at  second  hand  from  Dr.  Watt's  Treatise  on  Hooping 
Cough),  "  Since  disease  is  one  of  the  appointed  checks  to  ex- 
cessive population,  and  the  plan  of  Providence  in  the  creation 
of  human  life  requires  the  termination  of  the  existence  of  one 
third  of  its  creatures  before  they  have  attained  the  age  of  two 
years,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  annihilation  of  so  efficient 
an  instrument  as  small-pox  can  be  admitted  without  the  sub- 
stitution of  some  equally  destructive  malady."  If  the  premises 
were  true,  the  conclusion  would  be  inevitable.  But  they  are 
in  direct  opposition  to  matter  of  fait.  In  this  kingdom,  in  coun- 
try villages  and  parishes,  the  major  part  live  to  mature  age, 
and  even  to  marry.  In  one  place  one  half  have  been  observed 
to  live  to  30  years  of  age,  in  another  to  46  years  (se»  p.  43), 
and  in  a  particular  village  in  the  Alps,  called  Leyzin,  one  half 
of  the  inhabitants  reach  the  extraordinary  age  of  Gl  years. 
What  proportion,  in  these  cases,  die  before  two  years  of  age, 
we  are  not  informed,  but  probably  not  a  tenth  part  of  those 
born.'^  But  the  just  conclusion  from  the  facts  is,  that  as  there 
is  this  amazing  difference  in  mortalit}^  according  to  local  cir- 
cumstances and  local  habits — for  both  the  one  and  the  other 
should  be  always  taken  into  the  account — it  does  not  seem  essen- 
tially necessary,  or  "  the  plan  of  Providence  in  the  creation  of 
human  life,"  that  any  who  are  produced  healthy  and  perfect 

"  I  have  before  me  the  Annual  Report  of  the  City  Inspector  of  the 
number  of  deaths  and  interments  in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the 
years  1847  and  1848,  in  which  I  find  that  in  the  first  of  these  years  there 
were  15,788  deaths,  and  of  these  7373  were  of  children  under  Jive  years 
of  age  ;  nearly  one  half  the  whole  mortality ! 

In  1848  the  whole  number  of  deaths  in  New  York  was  15,919:  of 
adults,  according  to  Vhe  Inspector's  Report,  7020  ;  of  children,  8899. 

According  to  the  Report  of  the  Health  of  Towns'  Association,  showing 
the  compai-ative  mortahty  an«d  disease  in  the  extreme  districts  of  each 
county  in  England  and  Wales,  compiled  from  the  returns  of  the  Regis- 
trar-General  for  1841,  the  proportion  of  deaths  under  j^re  years  of  age,  to 
the  total  number  of  all  dying  (in  the  county  of  Lancaster,  districts  ol 
Ulverstone  and  Liverpool),  was  47.4 ,  True,  Lancaster  was  found  the 
most  unhealthy  of  all  the  counties  of  tnese  two  countries ;  yet  wherever 
observations  have  been  made  in  large  towns  or  cities,  the  world  over,  we 
find  an  alarming  amount  of  mortality  among  children,  and  such  as  no  one 
in  his  sobor  reason  can  for  a  moment  attribute  to  a  Divine  dispensa* 
tion.— 8. 


IN  CHRONIC  DISEASES. 


OF  THE 
COLLEGE  OF 

!?/?/CULTU^ 


into  the  world  should  perish  in  infancy.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
certain  from  these  facts,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  fatal  dis- 
eases of  infancy  are- under  the  control  of  situation  and  habits  of 
life ;  and  that,  by  a  mere  change  of  these  external  circumstances, 
they  may  be,  if  not  wholly,  yet  for  the  greater  part,  annihilated. 
There  is  nothing,  therefore,  either  contrary  to  analogy,  or  re- 
volting to  common  sense,  in  the  supposition  that  by  a  more 
exact  attention  to  these  circumstances,  or  by  a  discovery  of  the 
agents,  which  are  more  immediately  destructive  of  human  life, 
the  whole  of  this  tribe  of  diseases  might  be  really  extinguished. 

Again,  it  appears  thxit  in  certain  places  the  expectation  of  life, 
or  the  number  of  yea^s  which,  upon  an  average,  a  child  at  birth 
arrives  at,  iS;,  in  some  places  at  least,  double  of  what  it  is  in 
others.  For  example,  London  and  the  island  of  Madeira  are, 
or  at  least  were,  so  circumstanced.  In  London,  the  expectation 
of  a  child  at  birth  is  estimated  by  Dr.  Price  to  be  httle  more 
than  nineteen  years  ;  while  in  the  island  of  Madeira,  from  the  ac- 
count of  Dr.  T.  Heberden,  it  has  been  found  that  the  same  ex- 
pectation is  about  thirty-nine  years.  If  a  child,  therefore,  born  at 
London,  living  in  London,  and  according  to  the  habits  of  Lon- 
don, possesses  strength  of  constitution  sufficient  to  carry  him  to 
this  middle  term  exactly,  or  nineteen  years,  it  might  be  expected 
that  if  the  same  child  had  been  removed  at  its  birth  to  Madei- 
ra, and  resided  there,  according  to  the  habits  of  the  place,  he 
would  still  have  reached  the  average  period  of  this  place,  or 
thirty-nine  years.  Life  then  would  have  been  doubled ;  and  what- 
ever may  be  supposed  the  disease  which  would  have  cut  him 
off  at  nineteen,  this  disease  would  not  have  taken  place  till  he 
had  arrived  almost  at  forty  years  of  age.  Thus  it  is  rendered 
almost  certain,  that  all  the  fatal  diseases  of  early  life  are  under 
the  control  of  climate,  situations,  and  habits  of  life. 

Let  us  suppose  that  a  person,  born,  bred,  and  residing  in 
London,  dies  at  forty.  Had  such  a  one  been  transplanted  to 
Madeira  at  birth,  though  his  life  would  not  have  been  doubled, 
he  might  be  expected  to  have  gained  a  great  many  years.  But 
at  forty  there  are  none  of  our  chronic  diseases  to  which  a  per- 
son may  not  be  supposed  to  fall  a  victim.  It  may  be  cancer, 
or  asthma,  or  dropsy,  or  any  of  the  acute  and  fatal  inflamma- 
tions. It  becomes,  therefore,  highly  probable,  that  this  whole 
tribe  of  diseases  is  under  the  control  of  climate,  situation,  and 
habits  of  life. 

I  would  not  be  understood  as  advancing  this  argument  as  a 
rigorous  demonstration,  including  every  possible  case.  Some 
contagions,  perhaps,  are  fatal  to  persons  in  full  health,  who 


48  VEGETABLE    DIET 

would  otherwise  live  many  years.  The  depopulation  caused 
in  many  regions  by  the  small-pox,  shows  this  to  be  the  fact,  I 
think,  of  that  poison.  It  is,  therefore,  not  improbable  that  the 
same  may  be  true  of  others ;  and  the  salubrity  of  some  places 
may  be  owing,  in  some  measure,  to  the  absence  of  these  con- 
tagions. Accidents,  too,  as  extreme  fatigue  or  extreme  cold, 
may  extinguish  life,  independent  of  all  constitutional  disease. 
These  circumstances  may  make  the  bases  of  an  arithmetical 
calculation  uncertain,  and  cause  a  greater  apparent  disparity  in 
the  salubrity  of  different  places,  as  far  as  depends  upon  locality 
and  habits  of  life,  than  in  fact  exists.  But  after  making  all  al- 
lowance for  these  grounds  of  uncertainty,  it  is  still  indisputable 
that  there  is  a  very  great,  and,  indeed,  an  enormous  difference 
in  the  length  of  life  in  different  places,  independent  of  what 
may  be  called  accidental  terminations  of  life,  and  such  as  fully 
justifies  the  general  deductions  which  I  have  made. 

I  may  be  allowed  cursorily  to  add,  that  though  diseases  are, 
in  fact,  a  check  to  population,  and  thereby  the  demand  for  food 
is  made  equal  to  the  supply  at  any  given  period,  yet  it  does 
not  appear  that  a  deficient  supply  of  food  is  commonly  the  efii- 
cient  antecedent  cause  of  disease,  as  the  hypothesis  of  Mr. 
Malthus  appears  to  imply.  They  are  connected,  not  as  cause 
and  effect,  but  as  it  were  accidentally,  by  the  intermedium  of 
the  passions  and  interests  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  community 
— the  cultivators.  In  common  times,  a  very  small  portion,  in- 
deed, of  the  reigning  diseases  can  be  ascribed,  with  any  pro- 
bability, to  a  deficient  nutriment.  All  the  contagions  and  all 
the  effects  of  locality — I  may  add  all  the  effects  of  drunken- 
ness— act  as  powerfully  upon  the  rich  as  upon  the  poor ;  and 
these  comprehend  the  great  body  of  the  reigning  diseases.  Nor 
has  it  ever  been  proved  that,  upon  the  whole,  persons  in  easy 
circumstances  live  longer  or  raise  larger  families  than  the  lower 
orders.  Whatever  may  be  the  imaginary  mischiefs  of  an  ex- 
cessive population,  they  neither  are,  nor  does  it  appear  that  they 
ever  have  been  in  action.  Hitherto  an  increased  demand  for 
food,  like  a  demand  for  all  other  commodities,  has  occasioned 
an  increased  supply,  and  that  in  proportion  to  the  demand. 
This  is  true,  at  least,  in  civilized  communities,  versed  in  the  arts 
of  agriculture. 

The  different  healthiness  of  different  places  is  popularly 
ascribed  merely  to  a  purer  state  of  the  atmosphere  ;  nor  would 
I  deny  the  debilitating  influence  of  an  impure  atmosphere. 
But  we  should  consider  that  the  diseases  of  large  towns,  and 
the  diseases  of  the  country,  are,  upon  the  whole,  the  same  dis- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  49 

eas6s  ;  only  in  the  towns  they  appear  and  prove  fatal  at  an 
earlier  stage  of  life.  We  cannot,  therefore,  directly  trace  the 
specific  influence  of  an  impure  atmosphere ;  we  can  only  sup- 
pose it  to  accelerate  the  access  of  disease  from  other  causes,  or 
to  render  it  more  fatal.  But  the  phenomena  are  essentially  the 
same,  whether  they  happen  in  great  cities  or  in  country  villages ; 
in  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of  these  situations  do  we  meet 
with  diseases  that  are  absolutely  peculiar,  and  exclusively  con- 
fined to  the  spot  on  which  they  appear.  We  cannot,  therefore, 
acknowledge  distinct  causes  as  generative  of  disease,  in  large 
cities,  from  which  the  country  is  wholly  free.  We  can  only 
suppose  that  in  cities  the  causes,  be  they  what  they  may,  are 
more  active  and  concentrated. 

There  are  those  who  appear  to  think  that  the  essential  dif- 
ference of  climate  consists  merely  in  a  difference  of  temperature. 
They  propose,  by  artificial  methods,  to  correct  the  evils  which 
they  attribute  to  the  coldness  of  our  atmosphere;  and  they 
hope,  by  what  they  call  a  regulated  temperature,  to  arrest  the 
progress  of,  and  even  to  cure,  the  most  frequent  and  most  fatal 
of  our  diseases.  But  it  should  be  considered  that  though  tem- 
perature has  very  considerable  influence  over  the  symptoms  of 
disease,  it  has  Uttle  or  none  over  its  general  results  and  final 
termination. 

In  different  climates  disease  assumes  different  forms,  and 
fixes  its  seat  upon  different  organs.  In  the  East  Indies,  prac- 
titioners hardly  see  the  greater  part  of  our  European  diseases  ; 
rheumatism,  catarrh,  pleurisy,  peripneumony,  headaches,  and 
toothaches  are  wholly  unknown.  But  instead  of  these  almost 
universal  European  diseases,  another  class,  which  are  hardly 
heard  of  with  us,  except  perhaps  for  a  month  or  two  toward 
the  close  of  the  summer,  are  habitual  and  universal.  They  oc- 
cupy the  liver,  intestines,  and  mesentery,  occasioning  redun- 
dancy of  bile,  hepatic  congestion,  fluxes,  and  other  disorders 
indicative  of  increased  mobility  and  irritability  of  all  the  parts 
of  the  system,  comprehended  within  the  extent  of  the  coeliacal 
and  portal  circle.  These  differences  may,  probably,  be  justly 
ascribed  to  permanent  differences  of  temperature,  though  we 
are  wholly  ignorant  of  the  mode  in  which  they  operate.  But 
in  point  of  general  salubrity,  the  warm  climates  do  not  appear 
to  nave  any  advantage  over  the  temperate ;  and,  therefore, 
though  the  symptoms  of  some  particular  cases  of  disease  may 
be  jJleviated  by  the  mere  avoiding  of  cold,  yet  it  is  highly  impro- 
baf'^e  that  such  a  precaution  alone  can  avert  or  much  retard 
the  Vitality  of  any  fixed  diseases. 
3 


50  VEGETABLE    TIET 

To  the  proposal  for  the  use  of  a  regulak  I  temperature  in  con- 
sumption or  other  diseases,  there  lies  a  fundamental  objection, 
independent  of  the  weakness  of  the  proofs  by  which  it  is  sup- 
ported ;  this  is,  that  it  is  applicable"  only  to  persons  in  easy 
circumstances.  If  there  is  any  law  in  the  government  of  the 
universe  more  steady  than  another,  it  is  that  nothing,  which  is 
truly  useful,  is  not  useful  to  all.  Neither  food,  nor  clothing, 
nor  medicines,  nor  a  covering  from  the  atmosphere,  nor  know- 
ledge sufficient  for  the  guidance  of  life,  are  confined  to  any  rank 
of  society.  Every  plan  of  acquiring,  whether  it  be  health  or 
happiness,  which  is  not  communicable  to  all,  will  assuredly 
prove  abortive. 

Tliough  temperature  alone  will  not  counteract  powerful  mor- 
bific causes,  whether  of  diet  or  of  locality,  it  cannot  be  doubt- 
ed, I  think,  that  warmth  is,  within  certain  limits,  favorable  to 
the  human  constitution.  But  a  change  of  clin:mte  includes  com- 
monly a  great  change  of  other  circumstances  besides  tempera- 
ture, and  it  illustrates  most  forcibly  the  effects  of  locality. 
These  effects,  though  men  have  very  indistinct  notions  as  to 
their  immediate  causes,  are  universally  acknowledged  and 
acted  upon.  Upon  it  is  founded  the  advice  given  in  most  ob- 
stinate diseases,  to  try  what  is  called  change  of  air.  When  we 
reflect  upon  the  astonishing  difference  in  the  salubrity  of  dif- 
ferent places,  we  see  clearly  upon  what  foundation  this  advice 
rests ;  and  can  feel  no  surprise  at  the  great  benefit  which  has 
been  often  experienced  in  obstinate  diseases  from  a  change  of 
residence.  Complaints,  which  have  resisted  the  most  judicious 
treatment,  often  quickly  subside,  as  it  were  spontaneously,  by 
quitting  the  situations  in  which  they  were  fonued.  How  many 
gain  health  instantly  by  going  out  of  London  ?  This  is  a  poinfc 
on  which  the  voice  of  all  ages  has  been  unanimous.  *'  In  young 
persons  afflicted  with  epilepsy,"  says  Hippocrates,  "changes 
effect  the  solution  of  the  disease,  principally  of  age,  and  place, 
and  manner  of  life."  The  daily  experience  of  every  individual 
corroborates,  in  some  degree,  these  remarks.  There  hardly 
exists  a  person  of  some  experience  in  life  who  has  not  found, 
with  a  change  of  residence,  some  corrv  spending  change  either 
in  feelings  or  health. 

Upon  these  principles,  if  a  person  is  suffering  under  an  ha- 
bitual disease,  which  resists  medical  treatment  and  threatens  ic 
shorten  life,  a  more  reasonable  proposal  could  not  be  made 
than  for  him  to  remove  to  a  situation  where  the  bulk  of  the 
inhabitants  had  been  observed  to  enjoy  the  best  health,  and  to 
attain  the  greatest  longevity.    The  ancients,  as  we  are  informed 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  51 

by  Vitriiviiis,  inspected  the  liv^ers  of  the  animals  of  a  country 
in  order  to  judge  of  the  salubrity  of  its  soil  and  productions. 
They  did  not  act  without  reason.  But  our  authentic  registeis 
of  mortality  afford  a  still  surer  guide;  and  I  can  hardly  avoid 
wishing  that  they  had  been  more  frequently  consulted  for  this 
purpose.  Such  a  measure  wouTR  surely  be  more  rational  than 
sending  the  sick  all  promiscuously  to  the  sea,  or,  as  Dr.  Gre- 
gory has  somewhere  said,  from  one  foolish  watering  place  to 
another  foolish  watering  place.  In  these  things,  however, 
fashion  has  been  more  powerful  than  principle ;  and  so  it  may 
be  expected  to  continue. 

It  is  obvious,  from  many  considerations,  that  the  quantity  of 
mortality  is  quite  inconsiderable  when  compared  to  the  general 
quantity  of  sickness ;  though  this  is  a  subject  on  which  it  is 
impossible  to  form  a  calculation.  Men  are  not  always  short- 
lived because  they  are  unhealthy,  nor  is  great  and  apparently 
very  dangerous  illness,  in  different  stages  of  life,  incompatible 
with  arriving  finally  at  old  age.*  Little  dependence,  therefore, 
can  be  placed  upon  solitary  observations  with  regard  to  the 
effect  of  particular  habits,  or  modes  of  treatment.  Few  are 
duly  qualified  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  such  things.  I  am 
apt  to  think  that,  in  this  respect,  even  the  sage  Cornaro  de- 
ceived himself.  It  becomes  then  of  the  first  consequence  to 
view  mankind  as  much  as  possible  in  the  mass,  and  to  obtain, 
as  far  as  it  is  in  our  power,  general  results. 

If,  in  fact,  it  is  established  by  such  observations  that  our  dis- 
eases are  the  offspring  of  our  habits,  and  of  the  circumstances 
in  which  we  are  placed,  it  must  follow  that  of  those  who  are 
placed  in  the  same  circumstances,  however  various  are  the  forms 
and  external  appearances  of  disease,  there  must  be  an  absolute 
identity  in  its  essence.  This  must,  I  think,  be  correctly  true 
of  all  those  diseases  which  arise,  as  it  were,  spontaneously  in 
(he  habit,  independently  of  accidental  circumstances.  Nor  can  I 
exclude  from  this  class  the  acute  inflammations  which  are  com- 
monly regarded  as  a  species  of  accident,  produced  by  some 
foreign  circumstance  recently  applied,  as  severe  cold.  The 
inflammations  require  a  peculiar  state  of  the  constitution  for 

*  A  remarkable  example  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  Commentaries  of 
the  elder  Heberden.  "  That  very  eminent  physician,  Sir  Edward  Wilmot, 
before  he  had  completed  his  twentieth  year,  labored  so  severely  under 
a  consumptive  disorder,  that,  as  he  himself  told  me,  not  only  his  relations 
but  the  most  skillful  physicians  despaired  of  his  recovery;  he  lived,  not- 
withstanding, and  enjoyed  good  health  beyond  his  ninetieth  year." — He- 
ierden  Comment arii,  p.  324 


,05?  VEGETABLE    DIET 

their  production,  as  well  as  an  immediate  external  cause ;  and 
they  have  their  seat  in  various  organs,  according  to  the  differ- 
ent time  of  Hfe  in  which  they  occur.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  when  the  acute  inflammations  prove  fatal,  the  vitality  of 
the  system  is  destroyed,  as  it  were,  before  the  attack.  Such 
persons  should  be  considered,  therefore,  to  be  as  completely 
worn  out  as  if  they  had  died  of  a  lingering  disease  :  of  dropsy, 
or  of  consumption. 

In  a  system  like  that  of  the  human  body,  consisting  of  a 
congeries  of  different  organs,  each  independent,  and  endued 
with  peculiar  powers  and  actions,  but  each  likewise  connected 
with  the  whole,  and  conspiring  to  a  common  end,  there  can  be 
no  difficulty  in  comprehending  how  the  same  agents  should, 
upon  different  individuals,  produce  dissimilar  effects.  Nature, 
or  the  supreme  wisdom  which  has  formed,  sustains,  and  ani- 
mates the  universe,  seems  to  delight,  if  we  may  venture  so  to 
speak,  in  conjoining  the  most  admirable  simphcity  with  the 
most  astonishing  variety.  From  a  few  elements,  and  which 
our  ignorance  probably  makes  more  numerous  than  they  are  in 
fact,  we  see  living  beings,  whether  vegetables  or  animals,  so 
diversified  that  human  life  is  too  short  to  permit  us  to  become 
acquainted  with  their  various  forms  and  properties.  Is  it  then 
improbable  that  a  few  agents  should  produce  various  effects 
upon  the  bodies  of  men — a  race  of  beings  no  two  of  whom  are 
alike,  and  of  whom  not  one  individual  preserves  an  absolute 
identity  for  two  successive  days,  or  even  for  two  successive 
moments  ?  A  familiar  example  may  render  this  truth  more 
evident.  How  variously  does  wine  affect  different  individuals  ? 
One  can  bear  two  or  three  bottles,  another  is  giddy  with  half  a 
glass-full;  one  becomes  jocund,  another  splenetic;  one  w^akeful 
and  sprightly,  another  heavy  and  sleepy ;  one  good-humored, 
another  is  driven  to  madness.  What  we  see  in  the  effects  of 
wine,  we  can  readily  suppose  of  other  agents. 

If  this  were  a  simple  matter  of  speculation  it  would  be  of 
little  moment.  But  I  have  dwelt  upon  it  on  account  of  the 
practical  inferences  to  which  it  obviously  tends.  If  we  can 
show  that  the  antecedent  causes  of  various  diseases  are  the 
same,  though  the  immediate  symptoms  may  demand  various 
remedies,  yet  the  radical  treatment  may  and  ought  to  be  the 
same,  however  opposite  the  apparent  forms  of  the  disease  may 
be.  This  evidently  is  to  remove  the  antecedent  causes  as  much 
as  it  is  possible.  Then,  if  the  radical  and  inherent  powers  of 
the  system  have  not  been  destroyed,  it  may  be  expected,  if  not 
wholly   ';o  recover,  at  least  to  show  a  constant  tendency  to 


IN    CHKONIC    DISEASES.  53 

recovery.  In  what  degree  this  can  take  place  it  is  in  vain  to 
speculate,  independent  of  experiment.  Each  case  will  have 
sometliing  distinct  and  peculiar.  The  bow  which  has  been  long 
bent  will,  when  the  string  is  cut,  tend  to  regain  its  straightness ; 
but  it  may  ever  retain  some  marks  of  the  force  impressed  upon 
it.  Suppose  this  bow  to  be  the  branch  of  a  living  tree,  the 
result  may  be  still  the  same  ;  but  the  cases  will  be  more  parallel. 
When  we  say  that  the  phenomena  resulting  from  the  action 
of  the  same  causes  must  be  deemed  to  be  essentially  identical, 
we  must  limit  ourselves  to  the  strict  terms  of  the  proposition, 
and  by  no  means  conclude  that  no  morbid  appearance  can  arise 
in  the  body  which  may  not  be  distinctly  traced  to  such  causes. 
It  must  be  considered  that  an  animal  body  is  a  machine  en- 
dued with  internal  and  inherent  self-moving  powers,  Avhich  it 
preserves,  and  which  are  in  action  as  long  as  life  continues. 
Changes  take  place  from  the  operation  of  these  inherent  powers, 
■which,  if  they  are  attended  vvith  pain,  and  a  derangement  of 
the  ordinary  functions,  are  considered  as  diseases.  The  teeth- 
ing of  children  is  an  instance  of  this.  In  like  manner  acute 
diseases  may  frequently  be  suspected  to  be  natural  processes, 
taking  place,  perhaps,  in  morbid  bodies.  In  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge,  and  the  great  obscurity  in  which  these  sub- 
jects are  involved,  as  it  would  be  the  height  of  presumption  to 
affect  to  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  life,  so  would  it  be  cap- 
tious and  uncandid  to  object  every  accidental  and  unforeseen 
occurrence.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  approximating  to 
what  appears,  upon  the  whole,  to  be  the  truth.  Anomalies 
and  difficulties  must  be  expected  to  arise  which,  perhaps,  we 
may  never  be  able  to  elucidate ;  and  the  explication  of  which 
must  be  left  to  time  and  the  industry  of  future  inquirers. 

These  few  remarks,  which  appear  naturally  to  follow  from 
the  facts  established  with  regard  to  the  laws  of  human  mortali- 
ty, may  be  sufficient  to  render  probable  the  general  principle, 
that  the  efficient  causes  of  constitutional  diseases  and  premature 
death  are  to  be  sought  for  in  the  action  of  the  substances  which 
are  applied  to  and  affect  the  body.  But  to  gain  useful  infor- 
mation Ave  must  enter  into  a  more  particular  examination  of 
what  these  really  are. 

Now  any  substance  whatever  which  produces  a  change  either 
in  the  composition,  in  the  sensations,  or  in  the  motions  of  the 
body  ;  in  a  w^ord,  which  affects  it  as  a  living  system,  may  be 
justly  called  an  agent,  and  as  such  must  conspire  toward  the 
general  result  either  of  healtl.v  or  diseased  action.     As  such, 


54  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  effect  of  all  such  matters,  of  every  kind,  ought  to  be  taken 
into  the  account,  and  their  action  distinctly  considered.  But 
this  is  a  task,  the  proper  accomplishment  of  which  cannot  at 
present  be  hoped  for.  Man,  in  the  wantonness  of  power,  or 
under  the  caprices  of  appetite,  makes  almost  every  thing  he  can 
lay  his  hands  on  subservient  to  his  real  or  artificial  wants.  We 
must  therefore  of  necessity  confine  ourselves  to  those  agents 
w.iich  are  most  universally  applied,  and  which  appear  to  be  the 
most  effective. 

With  regard  to  the  generation  of  constitutional  diseases,  we 
ma}^,  I  think,  safely  confine  ourselves  to  four  principal  agents. 
These  are,  1st,  impure  air;  2d,  impure  water;  3d,  iuiproper 
aliment ;  and,  4th,  fermented  liquors.  These  ar«  the  things 
which  appear  really  and  effectively  to  produce  the  great  bulk 
of  the  reio-nino;  diseases,  or  at  least  to  form  the  morbid  consti- 
tution  out  of  which  these  diseases  spring.  I  always  except 
those  which  are  produced  from  contagions.  Each  of  these 
agents  is  of  itself,  perhaps,  under  certain  circumstances,  power- 
ful enough  to  produce  disease,  and  even  death ;  and  very  com- 
monly men  are  exposed  to  them  simultaneously.  In  a  system- 
atic treatise  each  ought  to  be  separately  considered.  But  as 
my  own  immediate  object  is  principally  to  confirm  the  pro- 
priety of  the  treatment  I  myself  proposed  in  constitutional  dis- 
ease, I  must  confine  myself  to  what  I  deem  more  directly  con- 
nected with  this  end.  On  air  I  have  nothing  to  say.  On  water 
I  have  nothing  further  to  add  to  what  I  liave  already  laid  before 
the  pubhc.  Some  observations  on  the  utility  of  vegetable  regi- 
men, the  mischiefs  of  the  regimen  in  common  use,  and  a  few 
remarks  on  fermented  liquors,  is  all  that  I  propose  to  add  to 
the  introductory  part  of  my  present  undertaking. 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  power  of  Habit. — Diseases  exasperated  by  a  fall  diet. — Illustrations 
of  the  beneficial  effects  of  abstemiousness. — Dr.  Barvvick. —  Francis 
Pechi. — Wood,  tlie  miller  of  Billerioay. — Apologia  du  Jeune. — Estimate 
of  the  powers  of  Vegetable  Regimen. 

However  pernicious  any  substance  or  application  may  be,  we 
find  that  use  in  a  certain  degree  reconciles  us  to  it ;  that  which 
was  at  first  offensive  may  become  at  length  agreeable ;  and 
what  was  at  first  manifestly  injuriou-  may  become  apparently 


IN    C51&0N1C    DISEASES.  55 

indifferent,  or  even  salutary.  Such  is  the  influence  of  habit,  by 
■which  the  constitution  is  rendered  insensible  of  constant  irrita- 
tions, if  they  possess  only  a  moderate  degree  of  force ;  and  a 
craving  or  appetite  is  formed  for  things  hurtful  in  themselves 
and  most  foreign  from  our  proper  nature.  But  this  habit,  if 
considered  in  the  bod}^  itself,  must  consist  of  a  series  of  motions 
and  actions,  the  seat  of  which  is  the  sensorium ;  which  motions 
must  have  an  opposite;  direction  to,  and  so  counteract  the  effect 
of  the  iriitating  cause.  In  this  way  only,  according  to  the  known 
properties  of  the  nervous  rystem,  is  the  power  of  habit  con- 
ceivable. But  however  it  be,  the  body  must  be  under  the  con- 
stant influence  of  a  foreign  and  external  force ;  this  force  must 
subvert  the  natural  actions  of  the  system,  and  warp  them  from 
their  proj>er  objects,  which  must  ultimately  produce  effects 
proportionable  to  the  magnitude  and  duration  of  the  irritations 
applied. 

We  deceive  ourselves,  then,  if  we  think  that  any  thing  which 
is  wrong  in  itself  can  be  made  right  by  habit,  or  that  what  is 
hurtful,  if  done  seldom,  will  become  innocent  by  being  con- 
stantly repeated.  By  this  repetition  we  may  become  insensible 
to  the  momentary  iiritation,  but  only  to  suffer  with  the  more 
severity  ultimately.* 

The  use  of  animal  food  is  one  of  these  habitual  irritations  to 
which  most  persons,  who  have  it  in  their  power,  voluntarily  sub- 
ject themselves.  Nothing  need  be  said  to  show  that  this  cus- 
tom produces  a  great  change  in  the  system  in  its  ordinary  state 
of  health-  This  is  a  change  which,  as  long  as  health  continues, 
is  commonl}^  thought  to  be  for  the  better.  But  omitting  wholly 
that  consideration,  it  seems  certain  that  it  predisposes  to  dis- 
ease, and  even  of  those  kinds  the  immediate  origin  of  which 
may  be  traced  to  other  causes. 

It  has  been  observed  that  the  laboring  negroes  of  the  West 
Indian  islands  are  almost  wholly  exempt  from  the  scourge  of 
the  yellow  fever,  which  has  cut  off  such  numbers  of  the  other 
classes  of  the  residents.  Upon  this  observation  it  was  pro- 
posed, when  the  same  disease  invaded  Philadelphia,  and  was 

*  It  may  be  observed,  that  when  by  habit  we  have  conquered  any 
dislike  or  formed  any  appetite  for  any  substance,  however  unnatural,  the 
dislike  does  not  appear  to  return  by  relinquishing  the  habit.  Tobacco  is 
at  first  abominable;  but  let  a  man  once  become  tbnd  of  it,  the  relish  will 
contiuue  lor  life.  He  may  cease  to  smoke  or  to  take  snuff,  because  he 
thinks  it  wrong  or  hurtful ;  but  the  original  disgust  never  returns.  So  it 
is  of  olives,  fermented  liquors,  and  other  things.  This  shows  the  impro- 
priety of  giving  children  wine,  or  any  thing  el*e  which  it  wou'd  be  better 
that  they  should  never  like. 


56  VEGETABLE    DIET 

thought  contagious,  to  employ  negroes  to  attend  the  sick.  But 
here  it  Avas  found  that  negroes  Avere  some  of  those  who  were 
the  most  subject  to  the  disease.  The  principal  cause  of  this 
difference  is  said,  by  the  physician  on  whose  authority  I  relate 
the  fact^  to  be,  that  in  Philadelphia  the  manner  of  living  of 
negroes  was  as  plentiful  as  that  of  Avhite  people  in  the  West 
Indies;  tht  reverse  of  which  is  known  to  be  the  fact  in  the 
islands. 

For  the  same  reason,  of  living  much  more  upon  vegetables, 
and  being  more  sparing  of  fermented  liquors,  the  French  are 
known  to  have  suffered  much  less  from  the  ravages  of  yellow 
fever  than  the  English,  who  use  the  same  diet  to  which  they 
had  been  accustomed  in  northern  regions.  Something  of  the 
same  kind  has  been  observed  with  regard  to  the  plague  at  Con- 
stantinople. Timoni,  in  his  account  of  this  disease,  asserts  that 
the  Armenians,  who  live  chiefly  on  vegetable  food,  were  far 
less  disposed  to  the  disease  than  other  people.* 

I  have  httle  doubt,  from  what  I  have  observed  during  the 
course  of  my  own  practice,  that  the  common  contagious,  or,  as 
it  is  called,  the  typhus  fever  of  this  country  is  greatly  exaspe- 
rated by  full  living.  This  fever  rarely  attacks  persons  in  the 
better  lines  of  life,  obviously  because  they  are  little  exposed  to 
the  exciting  causes  of  it.  But  when  they  suffer  it  is  very  apt 
to  be  fatal.  Several  medical  students  have  been  cut  off  (I 
speak  of  what  happened  some  years  ago),  both  in  London  and 
Edinburgh,  under  the  care  of  the  best  physicians  of  the  coun- 
try. But  among  paupers,  and  in  the  workhouses,  the  danger 
is,  commonly  speaking,  very  little,  and  they  recover  readily  in 
circumstances  under  which  it  is  probable  that  those  who  are 
called  their  betters  would  have  sunk.f 

*  The  Greeks  in  Smyrna,  during  Lent,  Howard  tells  us  in  his  work  on 
Lazarettos,  page  41,  edition  of  1792,  at  which  time  they  ate  only  vege- 
tables, were  very  seldom  attacked  with  the  plague,  while  among  those  who 
ate  flesh  the  contagion  made  great  havoc. — S. 

t  "  If  Scotland,"  says  Moore,  "  is  less  subject  to  pestilence,  it  is  more 
exposed  to  famine,  than  England." 

It  is  staled  by  Dr.  Rash,  that  during  a  desolating  fever  at  Leghorn, 
"  Of  the  beggars  who  had  scarcely  any  thing  to  eat,  and  who  slept  half 
naked  eveiy  night  upon  hard  pavements,  not  one  dicd.^' 

"  It  is  a  full  rather  than  an  empty  stomach,"  says  Dr.  Paine,  "  that  aids 
in  breeding  pestilence.  And  we  may  attirm,  upon  the  broad  ground 
of  experience,"  this  author  further  remarks,  "  that  he  will  enjoy  the  best 
chances  of  escape  who  renounces  a  stimulant  diet  while  his  system  may 
be  only  in  a  state  of  morbid  predisposition.  It  was  upon  this  ground  that 
the  beggars  in  Italy  escaped;  why  Audubon  and  his  J  arty  enjoyed  tho 
fullness  of  health  in  the  jungles  of  Florida.' — S. 


N    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  57 

It  seems,  moreover,  higlily  probable  that  the  power  inherent 
in  the  Uving  body,  of  restoring  itself  under  accidents  or  wounds, 
is  strongest  in  those  who  use  most  a  vegetable  regimen,  and 
■who  are  very  sparing  in  the  use  of  fermented  liquors.  Tliis 
has  been  observed  among  the  eastern  nations.  Sir  Geoi-ge 
Staunton  saj-s  on  this  subject :  "  It  is,  how^ever,  to  be  remarked 
that  the  Chinese  recover  from  all  kind  of  accidents  more  rapidly, 
and  with  fewer  symptoms  of  any  kind  of  danger,  than  most  peo- 
ple in  Europe.  The  constant  and  quick  recovery  from  consi- 
derable and  alarming  wounds  has  been  observed  likewise  to 
take  place  among  the  natives  of  Hindostan.  The  European  sur- 
geons have  been  surprised  at  the  easy  cure  of  sepoys  in  the 
English  service,  from  accidents  accounted  extremely  formid- 
able." This  felicity  the  relator  attributes  to  the  causes  which 
I  have  mentioned.  I  have  received  the  same  account  from 
other  quarters. 

These  facts  are  enough  to  induce  a  suspicion  that  our  dis- 
eases are  much  exasperated  by  our  manner  of  living,  and  the 
full  diet  of  animal  food,  to  which  Ave  are  habituated.  They 
may  serve  to  show  to  what  may  be  ascribed  in  some  degree 
the  great  difference  between  the  mortality  which  prevails  in 
great  towns  and  in  the  countiy.  In  all  situations  the  mass  of 
this*  mortality  must  be  composed  of  the  laboring  classes.  These 
classes  are  allured  to  the  cities  by  the  temptation  of  high  wages, 
which  are  expended,  partly  in  direct  riot  and  excess,  but  even 
by  the  most  sober-minded  in  procuring  for  their  fcimilies  a  more 
luxurious  mode  of  life  than  could  be  afforded  by  the  customary 
rate  of  wages  in  the  country.  A  daily  meal  of  meat  becomes 
to  be  thought  necessary  by  persons  who,  in  the  country,  must 
have  been  contented  with  a  scanty  portion  once  a  week.  To 
be  able  to  procure  this  becomes  a  distinction  in  society  which 
the  people  are  taught  to  look  up  to  as  the  reward  of  industry  ; 
Avhile  to  be  confined  to  what  is  called  a  poor  diet,  that  is  to  say, 
to  the  diet  of  the  poor,  is  reckoned  low  and  disgraceful.  Be- 
sides, the  crowdin.cr  together  a  number  of  persons  in  confined 
and  ill-ventilate''  ..abitations  favors  the  generation  or  the  diffu- 
sion of  a  nair.oer  of  contagions.  But  these  contagions  act 
with  groaU'i  virulence  upon  bodies  pampered  by  a  full  diet  of 
animal  tood.  Thus  do  these  places  become  a  species  of  hot' 
beds,  in  which  the  seeds  of  mortality  are  thickly  scattered  in 
the  soil  most  favorable  to  their  growth  and  propagation.  The 
bodies  of  men  are  most  corrupted ;  the  powers  of  life  most  en- 
feebled by  destructive  and  enervating  habits ;  moreover,  pu- 
tridity of  all  kinds,  both  of  animal  and  vegetable  matters,  an4 
8* 


5s  VEGETABLE    DIET 

contagicns  of  all  kinds,  are  in  such  situations  collected  and 
accumuated.  In  a  word,  in  great  cities  all  the  causes  of  mor- 
l.Jity  are  concentred. 

One  would  be  apt  to  imagine,  from  the  common  practice  of 
most  of  our  physicians,  and  still  more  of  our  medico-chirur- 
geons,  that  excess  and  intemperance  were  the  regular  methods 
of  curing  diseases.  They  have  been  laboring,  during  almost 
the  whole  of  my  medical  life,  to  prove  to  the  public  that  the 
doctrines  of  abstemiousness,  inculcated  by  several  of  our  pre- 
decessors, are  a  mere  prejudice  and  error.  In  almost  all  chro- 
nic diseases,  to  forbid  the  use  of  vegetables  is  a  part  of  the 
established  routine.  If  there  be  a  little  heart-burn  or  flatu- 
lency, all  vegetables  are  instantly  proscribed,  Infants,  even, 
are  loaded  with  made  dislies,  and  their  breaths  snaell  of  wine 
and  strong  liquors.  Nay,  to  such  an  extent  are  these  abomina- 
tions carried,  that,  when  their  stomachs  revolt  against  these 
unnatural  compounds,  with  instinctive  horror,  and  the  impor- 
tunities of  nature  cannot  be  Avholly  resisted,  a  little  fruit  is  held 
out  to  them  as  a  sort  of  premium,  and  as  a  reward  for  forcing 
down  the  nauseous  farrago  which  they  loath. 

Notwithstanding  the  prevalence  of  these  abuses  and  absurd- 
ities, and  the  pertinacity  with  which  they  are  defended,  no 
truth  is  better  established  than  the  fact,  that  multitudes*  of 
valetudinarians  have  been  restored  to  health  by  methods  di- 
rectly the  reverse  of  those  recommended  by  these  practitionei's. 
Many  have  been  the  examples  of  persons  who,  having  been  re- 
duced from  affluence  to  poverty,  and  forced  to  subsist  upon 
hard  fare,  and  to  gain  their  livelihood  by  daily  labor,  have  ex- 
changed for  their  useless  riches  the  inestimable  treasure  of 
health.  Nor  have  instances  been  wanting,  in  which  the  con- 
strained abstinence  of  a  prison  has  proved  a  remedy  for  some 
obstinate  disease. 

Dr.  Cheyne  has  given  us  a  history  of  this  sort.  "  Dr.  Bar- 
wick  tells  us,"  says  he,  "in  the  life  of  his  brother,  who,  in  the 
late  civil  wars,  had  for  many  years  been  confined  in  a  low  room 
in  the  Tower,  during  the  usurpation,  that,  at  the  time  of  his 
going  in,  he  was  under  a  phthisis,  atrophy,  and  dyscasy,  and 
lived  on  bread  and  water  only  several  years  there,  and  yet 
came  out  at  the  restoration,  sleek,  plump,  and  gay." 

Ramazzini  has  recorded  the  history  of  a  man  who  lived  in 

prison  for  nineteen  years  upon  bread  and  water  only,  and  lived 

afterward  healthy  and  free  fiom  the  gout,  from  wdiich  he  had 

before  been  a  great  sufferer. 

-  In  Schenk's  collection,  the  following  amusing  story  of  tho 


m    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  59 

same  description  is  found :  *^  The  noble  Francis  Pechi — when 
he  had  mounted  his  mule,  to  dispatch  some  commissions  of 
our  illustrious  duke — a  man  of  fifty,  gouty,  and  much  oppressed 
with  the  continual  torments  of  this  disease,  was  secretly  thrown 
into  prison  by  a  cert<nin  marquis,  his  wife,  only  son,  and  other 
people  thinking-  him  dead.  In  the  year  155G,  after  a  lapse  of 
twenty  years,  he  was  found  by  the  French,  who  took  the  cita- 
del, and  to  the  astonishment  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  VerceUi, 
preserved  like  Lazarus  from  the  tomb,  he  walked  through  the 
city,  with  his  sword  by  his  side,  without  stillness  of  his  joints, 
without  the  aid  of  a  stick.  He  thus  escaped  all  the  misery 
of  the  gout  by  means  of  a  slender  diet,  imposed  on  iiim  by 
his  jailers ;  and  finding  his  wife  and  son  dead,  he  began  to 
claim  his  houses,  farms,  and  other  property,  which  had 
been  sold,  and  were  of  great  value.  In  diet,  therefore,  is  the 
medicine." 

Cures,  which  appear  almost  miraculous,  have  been  at  all 
times  related  concerning  the  most  intractable  diseases,  with  a 
confidence  that  should  awaken  our  attention,  if  it  do  not  over- 
come our  incredulily.  The  elephantiasis  was  the  disease  which 
the  ancients  held  in  the  greatest  horror :  the  miserable  victims 
were  deserted  by  their  nearest  friends,  and  banished  to  the 
wilderness,  there  to  perish  in  solitude.  Aretoeus  has  recorded 
that  some  of  these  sufterers  were  reported  to  have  been  re- 
stored, nature  renewing  the  parts  which  had  been  destroyed  by 
the  disease  and  thrown  out  of  the  system.  On  these  cases  it 
is  well  remarked  by  Cocchi,  that  *'  we  should  not  believe  that 
their  cure  proceeded  from  their  having  eaten  vipers,  as  the  ac- 
count relates,  but  rather  from  their  total  abstinence  from  animal 
food,  and  a  continual  use  of  herbs,  as  more  powerful  philoso- 
phical reasons  induce  us  to  believe.*' 

The  former  prevalence  of  leprous  diseases  throughout  Eu- 
rope, which  ooviasioned  the  institution  of  lazar  houses  for  the 
reception  of  the  loathsome  objects  afflicted  by  them,  may  make 
us  suspect  that  such  accounts  are  not  wholly  fabulous.  The 
leprosy  is  nearly  extinct,  and  the  lazar  houses  have  fallen  to 
decay,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  improvements  of  agriculture. 
We  have  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  effects  of  diet  on  the  dis- 
eases of  a  nation,  in  the  inhabitants  of  the  isles  of  Ferro.  Since 
fishing  has  declined  among  them,  and  tlie  inhabitants  have  cul- 
tivated corn,  and  live  upon  other  food,  instead  of  whales'  flesh 
and  bacon,  the  elephantiasis  has  ceased  among  them.  Galen 
ascribes  the  prevalence  of  elephantiasis,  among  the  poor  inha- 
bitants of  Alexandria,  to  similar  causes,  namely,  the  habitual 


60  VEGETABLE    DIET 

use  of  salted  meats.  The  species  of  animal  was  little  regarded ; 
amoHg  others,  they  did  not  disdain  the  flesh  of  the  ass. 

Need  I  cite  the  well-known  history  of  Mr.  Wood,  the  miller 
of  Billericay  ?  This  man,  from  a  long  course  of  glutton}^,  eat- 
ing voraciously  animal  food  three  times  a  day,  with  large  quan- 
tities of  butter  and  cheese,  and  drinking  strong  ale,  became 
very  fat  in  his  fortieth  year ;  and,  in  three  or  four  more  years, 
his  health  failed  ;  he  had  a  constant  thirst,  great  lowness  of 
spirits,  violent  rheumatism,  and  frequent  attacks  of  gout.  He 
had  two  fits,  which  were  called  epileptic,  and  had  often  a  sense 
of  suffocation,  particularly  after  his  meals.  By  altering  his  re- 
gimen, and  pursuing  a  strict  course  of  abstemiousness,  he 
re-established  his  health,  and  continued  to  enjoy  g^/od  health 
for  many  years.  He  left  off  animal  food  and  fermented  liquors. 
His  solid  food  was  either  sea  biscuit,  or  flour  made  into  a  pud- 
ding, being  mixed  either  with  skimmed  milk  or  with  water,  and 
boiled.  He  abstained  from  all  fluids,  except  what  entered  into 
the  composition  of  his  pudding.  Under  this  course  of  absti- 
nence, he  lost  his  corpulence,  and  became  a  middle-sized  man, 
Ileal  thy  and  active,  and  his  strength  increased  instead  of  di- 
minishing. This  man  died  in  his  sixty-fourth  year.  No  one 
that  reads  his  history  can  doubt  that  he  prolonged  his  life  many 
years ;  and,  probably,  had  his  diet  been  regulated  upon  still 
more  correct  principles,  he  would  have  lived  several  years 
longer. 

That  longevity  is  promoted  by  vegetable  regimen  is  estab- 
lished by  the  concurrence  of  numerous  and  authentic  observa- 
tions. Ulloa  testifies  that  of  the  South  American  Indians  both 
sexes  aflford  many  instances  of  remarkable  longevity.  "  I  my- 
self," says  he,  "  have  known  several  who,  at  the  age  of  a 
hundred,  were  still  very  robust  and  active,  which  unquestiona- 
bly must,  in  some  measure,  be  attributed  to  the  constant  same- 
ness and  simplicity  of  their  food."  Humboldt's  testimony,  as 
to  their  longevity  at  the  present  day,  is  to  the  same  purpose, 
except  that  many  cut  themselves  off  by  the  use  of  spirituous 
liquors.  He  says,  "  While  I  was  at  Lima,  the  Indian  Hilario 
Pari  died  at  the  village  of  Chiagata,  four  leagues  distant  from 
the  town  of  Arequiga,  at  the  age  of  143." 

It  is  the  mountainous  and  barren  districts,  where  frugality 
and  simplicity  of  manners  are  the  necessary  habits  of  the  bulk 
of  the  community,  that  have  ever  been  the  favorite  abode  of 
health  and  longevity.  "  Upon  the  general  and  particular  sur- 
veys already  made,"  says  Sir  William  Temple,  "  it  may  seem 
that  the  mountainous  barren  countries  are  equally  the  scenes 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  01 

of  health  and  long  life  ;  that  they  have  heen  rather  in  the  hills 
of  Palestine  and  Arcadia,  than  in  the  plains  of  Babylon  or  of 
Thessaly ;  and  among  us  in  England,  rather  upon  the  Peak  of 
Derbyshire  and  the  heaths  of  Staffordshire,  than  in  the  fertile 
soils  of  other  counties  that  abound  more  in  people  and  in  riches." 
Examples  of  great  and  extraordinary  longevity  have  been 
chiefly  confined  to  peasants  of  the  lowest  ordei  of  society ;  to 
philosophers,  who  have  thought  that  the  truest  wisdom  consists 
in  the  regulation  of  the  passions  and  the  appetites ;  or  hermits 
and  anchorites,  who  practiced  great  abstemiousness  as  a  re- 
ligious duty. 

That  the  members  of  those  monastic  orders,  who  abstained 
from  the  flesh  of  animals  by  the  rules  of  their  institution,  en- 
joyed a  longer  mean  term  of  life  in  consequence,  has  been 
proved  by  the  result  of  an  actual  examination.  This  fact  is 
well  estabhshed  by  the  author  of  an  interesting  tract,  published 
at  Geneva,  in  1Y89,  entitled  Apoloffie  du  Jeune.  As  this  tract 
appears  to  furnish  some  important  and  instructive  matter,  I  am 
sorry  that  my  own  knowledge  of  its  contents  is  derived  from 
the  scanty  details  of  a  medical  journal.  From  this  source,  how- 
ever, I  have  obtained  the  calculation  which  seems  sufficient  to 
justify  the  conclusions  of  the  author. 

This  writer  extracted  from  Baillot  the  length  of  the  lives  of 
152  monks  {solitaires),  or  of  bishops,  who  used  the  same  austere 
mode  of  life.  He  took  them  promiscuously,  as  they  were  pre- 
sented, in  all  times,  and  in  all  sorts  of  climates.  They  produced 
a  total  of  11,589  years  ;  and  consequently  they  gave  an  average 
of  seventy-six  years  and  a  little  more  than  three  months,  w^hich 
may  be  expected  from  a  regimen  confined  principally  to  fruits, 
herbs,  roots,  etc.  He  took,  in  like  manner,  152  academicians, 
half  members  of  the  academy  of  sciences,  and  half  of  that  of 
Belles  Lettres.  They  gave  only  10,511  years,  alFording  an 
average  of  sixty-nine  years  and  a  little  more  than  two  months. 
The  ancient  austerity,  therefore,  so  far  from  abridging  life, 
lengthens  it  rather  more,  upon  an  average,  than  seven  years ; 
and  the  long  life  of  the  anchorites  was  the  effect  of  the  fru- 
gality of  their  regimen. 

The  difference  between  the  ages  of  the  seventy-six  members 
of  the  two  academies  was  only  nineteen  years ;  but  in  every 
stage  of  life  the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  monks ;  there 
were  fewer  deaths,  more  numerous  survivors,  and  an  old  age 
more  prolonged,  as  appeared  by  noting  the  number  of  deaths 
in  every  successive  ten  years. 

The  author  of  this  account  concludes  with  making  what  I 


62  VEGETABLE    DIET 

deem  a  very  just  remark.  ''It  is  not,"  he  says,  "the  appa- 
rent  disease  which  is  the  real  cause  of  death ;  but  men  die 
because  the  body  is  worn  out ;  the  tone  of  the  fibres  is  destroy- 
ed ;  and  the  principle  of  motion  fails.  The  obvious  disease  is 
the  mask  under  which  this  condition  is  concealed." 

Nothing  is  indeed  more  true,  than  that  previous  to  the  attack 
of  fatal  diseases  there  may  be  commonly  observed  evident 
marks  of  an  exhausted  vitality.  The  signs  of  it  are  frequently 
sufficiently  marked  in  the  countenance ;  or  it  may  be  observed 
in  some  feebleness  of  the  vital  functions :  a  change  in  the  force 
of  the  circulation ;  a  failure  of  the  breath,  or  some  diminution 
of  muscular  power.  Habitual  diseases,  which,  for  their  pro- 
duction, require  a  certain  energy  of  action,  and  strength  of  con- 
stitution, as  gout,  cutaneous  eruptions,  etc.,  disappear,  and  peo- 
ple vainly  congratulate  themselves,  perhaps,  that  they  enjoy 
improved  health.  The  attack  may  be  sudden  and  violent,  but 
the  predisposing  state  of  the  system  has  been  formed  slowly, 
and  almost  imperceptibly.  So  truly  is  it  said  by  Hippocrates, 
"  that  diseases  do  not  fall  upon  men  instantaneously,  but  being 
collected  by  slow  degrees,  they  explode  with  accumulated 
force." 

Observations  similar  to  those  which  this  writer  has  made  the 
subject  of  calculation  have  occurred  at  all  times,  and  in  almost 
every  climate.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  to  those  who  have 
resided  in  Hindostan,  that  the  Bramins,  who  abstain  most  scru- 
pulously from  the  flesh  of  animals,  attain  to  the  greatest  lon- 
gevity. 

From  the  calculation  which  has  been  given,  we  may,  I  ap- 
prehend, reason  with  tolerable  correctness  as  to  the  effects  that 
may  be  expected  to  result  from  a  vegetable  diet  in  incurable 
diseases,  supposing  no  other  change  to  be  adopted.  Accord- 
ing to  the  evidence  produced,  the  system  wears  faster  under  a 
mixed  regimen  than  under  a  vegetable  regimen ;  and  at  such  a 
rate  that  those  who  would  die  under  the  former  regimen  at 
seventy,  would,  under  the  latter,  reach  to  seventy-seven  nearly; 
that  it  is  to  say  life  is  prolonged  about  one  tenth. 

I  am  apt  to  think  that  this  estimation  cannot  be  very  wide 
of  the  truth.  For  there  are  circumstances,  on  each  side  of  the 
scale,  which  the  author  of  the  report  would  hardly  take  into 
the  account.  In  the  first  place,  men  who  live  very  abstemi- 
ously are,  probably,  as  scrupulous  in  what  they  drink  as  in 
what  they  eat.  It  is  likely  then  that  these  monks  and  religious 
men  were,  for  the  most  part,  water  drinkers ;  whereas  the  acade- 
micians livirg  in  the  world  would,  for  tht  most  part,  comply  with 


I\    CilRONIC    DISEASES.  63 

the  common  customs  of  the  world.  Hence,  then,  the  monks 
would  have  an  advantage  in  addition  to  their  vegetable  regimen^ 
On  the  other  hand,  these  solitaires  did  not,  probably,  adopt 
their  strict  regimen  till  they  had  reached  the  period  of  manhood ; 
moreover,  it  "is  probable,  that  a  perfect  strictness  in  the  vege- 
table regimen  was  not  observed ;  it  hardly  excluding  the  occa- 
sional use  of  fish,  milk,  and  eggs,  and  other  things,  which,  being 
deviations  from  natural  diet,  must,  I  conceive,  abbreviate  the 
term  of  life.*  But,  to  assume  the  utmost  latitude  in  favor  of 
the  vegetable  system,  we  will  suppose  that  persons  who  use 
the  common  diet  might  have  their  lives  prolonged  one  sixth  by 

confininof   themselves  to  veo^etables  alone.     Tliis  will,  I  doubt 

•  •       •      1 
not,  be  generally  thought  to  be  givmg  it  advantage  more  than 

enough  ;  though,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  it  may  be  really 
too  little.  In  persons  living  very  grossly,  eating  largely  of 
animal  food  two  or  three  times  a  day,  the  abbreviation  of  life 
will  be  proportionably  greater ;  such  persons,  perhaps,  cutting 
oft*  one  fourth,  one  third,  or  even,  perhaps,  one  half  their  days 
by  their  excesses.  However,  under  common  circumstances, 
the  above-mentioned  allowance  of  one  sixth  is,  probably,  abun- 
dant. 

Now,  as  the  action  is  constant  and  uniform,  this  prolongation 
will  belong  equally  to  every  portion  of  life ;  and  the  same  pro- 
portion may  be  applied  to  what  we  ma}'-  call  the  complement  of 
life,  or  that  part  of  it  which  still  remains  unexpended.  By  an 
abstinence  from  flesh,  then,  we  may  expect  to  protract  the 
periods  of  disease,  though  not  to  avert  their  fatal  issue,  and 
that  in  about  the  proportion  stated  above.  If,  for  example,  a 
person  who  is  consumptive  might  be  expected  to  live  a  twelve- 
month, he  might  reasonably  hope,  by  a  vegetable  regimen,  to 
prolong  his  life  about  two  more  months  or  to  live  fourteen 
months.  Such  would,  probably,  under  the  vegetable  regimen 
alone,  have  been  the  event  of  the  case  which  I  have  described 
in  my  "  Reports  on  Cancer,"  in  which  Mr.  Abernethy  gave  his 
opinion  that  a  twelvemonth  was  the  utmost  extent  of  life  that 
he  could  hope  for,  but  in  which  life  was  really  extended  to 
three  years  and  five  months  ;  and  that  under  a  treatment  which 
Wcis  for  some  months  essentially  defective.  A  cancerous  tumor 
is,  under  common  diet,  invariably  fatal ;  and  the  term  of  life, 

*  Thus  Mr.  Pennant — "  The  Romish  church  permits  the  use  of  it  (the 
otter)  on  maigre  days.  In  the  kitchen  of  the  Carthusian  convent  near 
Dijon,  we  saw  one  preparing  fur  the  dinner  of  the  religious  of  that  rigid 
ordeu  who,  by  their  rules,  are  prohibited  during  their  whole  lives  to  eat 
flesb    —Pennant's  British  Zoology,  p.  119. 


64  VEGETABLE    DIET 

whicli  remains  to  a  person  who  lias  a  tumor  of  this  kind,  may 
be  conjectured  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  precision.  Let  us 
suppose  such  a  person  under  common  regimen  would  survive 
three  3'ears ;  under  a  strict  vegetable  regimen,  the  same  person 
may  expect,  from  these  data,  to  hve  about  three  years  and  a 
half. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  think  it  is  easily  explained 
how  the  vegetable  regimen  has  fallen  into  a  species  of  disre- 
pute ;  and  how  impossible  it  is  to  obtain  from  it,  when  the  sys- 
tem is  hastening  toward  dissolution,  even  a  temporary  respite 
from  suffering.  Let  us  make  an  assumption  which  is  certainly 
quite  extravagant ;  but  let  us  suppose  that,  other  things  remain- 
ing the  same,  life  would  be  doubled  by  vegetable  regimen.  In 
the  beginning  or  middle  of  life  this  would  be  a  momentous  con- 
sideration; but  how  would  it  be  toward  its  close?  A  man,  we 
will  say,  is  consumptive,  and  has  but  half  a  year  to  live.  By 
the  vegetable  regimen,  then,  he  would,  by  the  supposition,  live 
a  w^hole  year.  But  he  would  still  during  the  whole  period  be 
a  dying  man;  the  symptoms  might  be  less  severe,  but  they 
would  persist.  And  liow  much  more  evidently  must  this  be 
the  case  if,  what  would  doubtless  be  the  real  fact,  life  was  not 
prolonged  a  month  ?  In  these  circumstances  it  can  hardly  be 
conceived  that  the  patient  should,  as  far  as  he  could  judge 
from  his  feelings,  be  sensible  of  any  benefit  whatever.  And 
as  no  practitioner  will  pretend  to  so  correct  a  judgment  as  to 
be  able  to  fix,  in  these  circumstances,  and  foretell  death  within 
three  or  four  weeks,  the  advantage  gained,  though  real,  would 
elude  the  observation  of  the  medical  attendants  quite  as  much 
as  that  of  the  patient. 

It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  while  vegetable  regimen  has  been 
confined  to  cases  of  this  kind,  persons  should  be  insensible  of 
its  advantages.  The  most  sti-enuous  advocates  for  a  vegetable 
regimen  have  been  some  solitary  individuals  in  common  life, 
living  commonly  in  a  confined  circle,  and  acting  either  from  a 
regard  to  health  or  from  a  principle  of  conscience.  The  errors 
of  such  persons  have  in  tliem  something  respectable.  But  the 
medical  profession  have,  in  general,  held  a  different  and  even 
an  opposite  language.  The  reason  clearly  is  the  much  more 
extensive  observation  which  their  profession  affords  them. 
This  experience  has  presented  to  them  diseases  of  all  sorts, 
invading  persons  whom  necessity  confines  to  such  a  regimen ; 
and  death  taking  place  in  all  its  forms.  They  must  therefore 
have  a  full  conviction  that  all  the  flattering  prospects  of  avoid- 
ing diseases,  held  out  by  the  enthusiasts  of  a  vegetable  regimen. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  65 

are  wholly  fallacious.  And  as  men  arc  apt  to  fall  into  extremes, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  a  large  portion  of  this  body  of  men  are 
insensible  to  its  real  advantages,  and  inchned  to  attribute  mis- 
chiefs to  it  of  which  it  is  really  guiltless. 

Under  the  influence  of  prejudices,  grounded,  I  dare  say,  iipon 
observations  such  as  I  have  mentioned,  a  surgeon,  who,  from 
the  extent  of  his  practice  and  his  standing  in  the  profession,  is 
justly  called,  I  believe,  the  first  of  this  metropolis,  being  told 
how  little  animal  food  was  given  to  the  children  at  Edinburgh, 
answered,  *'Yes:  but  1  find  animal  food  is  necessary  to  our 
London  children ;"  as  if  what  was  right  in  one  place  was  wrong 
in  another,  and  that  there  is  a  i-eal  difference  in  the  human 
constitution  at  London  and  at  Edinburgh.  When  the  first  men 
of  the  profession  use  such  vague  language,  and  ha^e  sucli  in- 
distinct ideas,  can  we  wonder  at  the  ignorance  and  prejudices 
of  the  bulk  of  the  people  ? 

Though  there  is  no  reason  to  question  the  fidelity  of  the 
writers  who  have  given  the  histories  which  I  have  recited  in 
this  chapter,  yet  it  is  to  be  considered  that  they  are  rare  occur- 
rences, and  as  such  ought  not  to  be  allowed  imdue  weight. 
Geneial  conclusions  must  rest  upon  a  firmer  foundation  ;  facts 
should  be  both  numerous  and  concurring.  Li  indi\idual  cases 
circumstances  ma}^  easily  be  omitted  which  would  lead  to  dif- 
ferent conclusions  had  they  been  related ;  and  this  may  happen 
from  error  or  piecipitation  Avithout  any  intention  to  mislead. 

Gout  is  the  disease  in  which  abstinence  from  animal  food 
has  been  the  most  frequently  recommended,  and  Avith  the 
greatest,  but  not  with  uniform  success.  It  is  generally  ac- 
knowledged that  the  practice  alleviates  the  symptoms  of  the 
disease.  Man)^  single  cases,  of  the  good  done  by  such  a  regi- 
men, have  been  related.  A  treatise  by  Doloeus,  on  the  cure 
of  gout  by  milk  diet,  contains  several  cases  in  which  the  se- 
verity of  the  disease  was  by  this  method  much  alleviated.  In 
Dr.  Starke's  works  is  the  following  passage  to  the  same  pur- 
pose. 

"  Mr.  Slingsby  has  lived  many  years  on  bread  and  milk  and 
vegetables,  without  animal  food  or  wine;  he  has  excellent  spir- 
its, is  very  vigorous,  and  has  been  free  from  the  gout  ever  since 
he  began  this  regimen. 

"  Dr.  Knight  has  lived  also  many  years  on  a  diet  strictly 
vegetable,  excepting  eggs  in  puddings,  milk  with  his  tea  and 
chocolate,  and  butter.  He  finds  wine  necessary  to  him.  Since 
he  lived  in  this  manner  he  has  been  free  from  the  gout." 

But  it  has  also  appeared  that  a  great  degree  of  atony  and 


66  VEGETABLE    DIET 

muscular  debility  has  often  succeeded  to  the  more  violent 
paroxysms  of  the  disease.  This  is  the  evidence  of  Dr.  Mead, 
wjiich,  I  doubt  not,  is  correct.  *'  la  persons  advanced  in  life, 
in  whom  the  disease  has  been  used  to  recur  for  a  course  of 
years,  if  it  does  not  invade  them  at  all,  instead  of  the  limbs, 
the  internal  parts  are  infected  ;  and,  moreover,  the  limbs  being 
deprived  of  their  strength,  they  pass  the  remainder  of  their 
lives  in  a  miserable  state,  which  I  have  seen  more  than  once  in 
those  who,  contenting  themselves  Avith  milk  and  vegetables, 
have  abstained  from  all  other  food." 

I  question  not  these  facts.  It  is  no  reproach  to  the  vegeta- 
ble regimen  that  it  cannot  effect  impossibilities ;  that  it  cannot 
restore  a  constitution  worn  out  vvitli  age  and  disease.  Nor  are 
the  evils  described  to  be  attributed  to  the  diet,  thouofh  vulo-ar 
prejudice  might  reason  so ;  and  the  representation  of  the  writer 
seems  to  favor  it,  this  series  of  symptoms  being  the  customary 
course  of  the  disease  under  every  regimen.  It  is  equally  true, 
that  in  London,  and  perhaps  every  where  else,  many  children 
will  become  diseased,  and  die,  who  are  confined  to  vegetable 
food,  other  causes  of  disease  being  in  action.  But  let  observa- 
tions be  made  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large,  and  let  an  average 
be  fairly  taken,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  balance 
will  be  in  favor  of  the  abstemious  in  length  of  life,  in  diminu- 
tion of  suffering,  and  in  actual  enjoyment. 

Excess  of  all  kinds  is  followed  by  an  instantaneous  exacerba- 
tion of  constitutional  disease,  as  persons  subject  to  gouty  pains 
almost  always  experience.  And  where  the  very  contrary  effect 
is  experienced,  as  may  sometimes  happen,  it  may  be  suspected 
to  be  owing  to  a  degree  of  torpor  introduced  into  the  nervous 
system  rather  than  to  healthy  action. 

Abstinence,  on  the  contrary,  without  curing  constitutional 
disease,  assuages  its  violence ;  it  both  protracts  life  and  renders 
it  more  comfortable. 

A  gentleman  of  about  thirty  years  of  age,  while  this  chapter 
was  in  the  press,  informed  me  that  he  had  formerly  used  ani- 
mal food  two  or  three  times  a  day.  He  had  for  some  time  suf- 
fered most  severe  pains  of  the  head,  so  much  as  to  confine  him, 
during  the  paroxysms,  to  his  bed  ;  and  they  gave  him  the  great- 
est dread  of  their  approach,  which  he  could  commonly  foretell 
for  two  or  three  days.  Moreover,  he  had  a  bleeding  from  the 
hemorrhoidal  vessels,  from  which  he  had  hardly  any  respite. 
In  consequence  of  the  inquiries  originating  with  me,  he  deter- 
mined to  confine  himself  wholly  to  vegetable  food,  which  he  has 
now  done,  I  behevo  between  tv^o  and  three  years.     For  half  "a 


i:;    CilRONIC    DISEASES.  67 

year  t'be  disease  continued  with  unabating  severity.  But  from 
that  time  it  became  much  milder,  and  now  it  never  confines  him, 
and  he  hardly  regards  it.  The  hcmorrlKige  also  is  greatly  di- 
miaished.  The  whole  time  it  now  occupies  is  not  equal  to  what 
tlie  intervals  were  formerly.  He  has  perceived  no  loss  of 
strength,  and  has  determined,  in  consequence  of  the  benefit  he 
has  received,  to  pursue  in  every  respect  the  regimen  I  have  re- 
commended in  chronic  disease. 

1  have  before  me  some  papers  written  by  a  gentleman  of 
Birmingham,  of  the  name  of  Luckcock,  which  he  liberally  com- 
municated for  publication.  But  though  the  matter  is  creditable 
both  to  the  benevolence  and  good  sense  of  the  writer,  it  is  not 
such  as  I  deem  suitable  to  my  object.  I  doubt  not,  therefore, 
that  he  will  excuse  me  if  I  use  only  those  facts  which  I  think 
more  directly  conducive  to  that  end. 

Tins  gentleman  had,  in  May,  1813,  used  a  vegetable  regimen 
for  rather  more  than  four  years,  prompted  more  by  a  principle 
of  humanity,  and  a  conscientious  feeling,  than  a  mere  regard  to 
health.  He  says  that  he  never  found  the  smallest  inconvenience 
from  the  change,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  has  rather  in- 
creased in  weight,  and  sensibly  improved  in  health.  On  this 
subject  he  declares :  "  I  confidently  believe  that  I  am  taking 
the  best  means  to  enjoy  life  as  long  as  it  may  continue.  In 
this  respect  I  do  affirm  that  the  last  four  years  have  been  equal 
to  any  period  between  twenty  and  the  present  time,  and  cer- 
tainly better  than  the  four  years  preceding  the  innovation." 
Mr.  Luckcock's  age  was  at  this  time  fifty-three. 

It  further  appears  that  the  writer,  like  most  men  of  his  time 
of  life,  was  not  entirely  free  from  constitutional  disease.  His 
words  on  this  subject  are :  "  About  fifteen  years  ago  a  slight 
hemorrhage  made  its  appearance  with  me,  and  has  gradually 
increased  to  a  degree  which,  under  less  favorable  circum- 
stances, might  well  excite  considerable  alarm,  and  it  may  even- 
tually be  fatal."  From  this  statement  I  conclude  that  the 
change  of  regimen  has  made  no  marked  alteration  in  this 
disease. 

I  repeat,  then,  that  abstemiousness  does  not  cure  constitu- 
tional disease;  but  it  palliates,  where  to  cure  is  obviously  im- 
possible. Even  in  aneurisms  of  the  aorta,  or  dilatations  of  the 
cavities  of  the  heart,  whatever  good  is  possible  must  be  looked 
for  in  a  treatment  founded  upon  analogous  principles.  Such 
was  the  practice  proposed  by  Valsalva  in  these  hopeless  dis- 
eases. He  enjoined  repeated  bleedings,  and  a  spare  diet  rigor- 
ously persevered  in;  and  we  are  assured  by  Albertini,  in  a 


C8  VEGETABLE    DIET 

paper  inserted  in  the  meinoirs  of  the  academy  of  Bologna, 
"that  young  persons  treated  in  this  way  have,  in  some  in- 
stances, been  cured,  and  in  others  remarkably  relieved;  and 
that  old  persons,  and  those  in  whom  the  complaint  was  already 
far  advanced,  had  at  least  found  in  this  plan  a  more  or  less 
powerful  obstacle  to  its  progress,  and  a  prolongation  of  life." 
Some  examples  of  the  utility  of  the  practice  are  given  in  the 
work  from  which  this  extract  is  made. 

I  do  not  think  that  an  impartia'.  exaraii.ation  of  facts  will 
allow  us  to  attribute  effects  more  favorable  than  those  I  have 
described,  to  the  use  u£  a  vegeta^^dle  instead  of  the  mixed  diet 
of  common  life,  aided  even  by  avoiding  fermented  liquors.  They 
are,  as  I  have  said,  prolonging  life  to  a  certain  degree,  and 
rendering  disease  more  mild.  But  no  instances  have  been 
given  of  the  eradication  of  deep  constitutional  disease,  where  the 
symptoms  were  well  marked  and  unequivocal.  On  the  con- 
trary, such  symptoms  have  been  known  to  arise  under  a  strict 
regimen  of  this  kiad,  of  which,  in  the  sequel,  I  shall  cite  some 
examples. 

I  know  that  very  different  opinions  on  these  subjects  are 
held  both  by  practitioners  and  by  the  people.  Persons  who 
have  for  years  used  the  common  diet  without  inconvenience, 
say,  that  at  some  former  period  of  tiieir  lives  they  labored 
under  severe  and  dangerous  illness,  for  which  they  were  en- 
joined to  practice  a  rigid  abstemiousness ;  and  to  this  practice 
they  ascribe  their  recovery.  But  I  would  ask,  if  the  diet  caused 
their  former  illness,  how  happen  they  to  bear  a  recurrence  to 
it  without  a  recurrence  of  the  symptoms  ?  It  is  clear,  then, 
that  they  do  not  think  their  disease  was  caused  by  the  mixed 
diet,  but  that  there  was  some  peculiar  medicinal  power  in  a 
temporary  abstemiousness.  And  that  British  practitioners  in 
general  entertain  similar  ideas,  is  clear  from  the  rigid  absti- 
nence they  enjoin  in  acute  diseases,  under  the  name  of  the  anti- 
'phlogistic  regimen.  In  this  respect,  the  English  are  said  to  be 
more  strict  than  other  nations.  And  it  is  thought  that  life 
itself  is  preserved  by  this  strictness. 

Without  at  all  disputing  the  propriety  of  this  strictness — for 
I  think  it  perfectly  proper — I  must  doubt  greatly  its  efficacy, 
at  least  as  far  as  it  claims  to  preserve  life.  For  having  seen 
severe  attacks  of  inflammatory  disease,  where  a  regimen  of  this 
kind  had  been  followed  for  months,  and  even  for  years  ;  having 
even  suffered  in  my  own  person  an  exceedingly  severe  inflara- 
matory  sore  throat,  when  it  had  been  followed  very  neaily  two 
years,  I  cannot  but  ask  what  effect  can  it  be  supposed  to  have 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  69 

on  the  issue  of  sucli  a  disease,  when  resorted  to  only  on  the 
spur  of  the  occasion,  and  continued  for  a  few  days,  or  it  may 
be  for  a  few  weeks  ?  I  question  not,  then,  that  their  issue  de- 
pends infinitely  more  upon  the  antecedent  habits,  than  upon  any 
effect  of  regimen  during  their  invasion.  And  if  this  be  true,  it 
would  seeiu  that  those  foreigners  who  are  much  more  sparing  of 
animal  food  in  their  daily  habits,  but  much  less  rigid  than  the 
English  under  illness,  do  not  appear,  in  these  respects,  to  be 
less  enlightened  than  our  countrymen. 

Under  the  influence  of  opinions,  common  to  all  British  prac- 
titioners, of  the  great  importance  of  the  antiphlogistic  regimen 
in  inflammatory  diseases,  I  myself  proposed  in  a  former  work 
(Inquiry  into  the  Origin,  Symptoms,  and  Cure  of  Constitutional 
Diseases,  p.  50),  to  render  it  more  perfect,  and,  as  I  thought, 
more  efficacious,  by  attending  to  the  fluid,  as  much  as  to  the 
solid  matter  used,  and  substituting  pure  instead  of  common 
water.  And  I  still  think  that  I  reasoned  right,  supposing  the 
common  opinion  to  be  just.  But  being  now  fully  assured  that 
the  operation  of  regimen  of  all  kinds  is,  as  far  as  it  regards 
the  safety  of  the  patient,  exceedingly  slow ;  that  the  eftect  of 
the  ingesta  (of  any  kind  whatever),  upon  the  issue  of  these  dis- 
eases can,  during  the  course  of  the  disease,  be  hardly  calculated ; 
and  that  a  strict  attention  to  the  antiphlogistic  regimen  itself 
may  tend  to  the  comfort  of  the  patient,  but  possess  little  or  no 
influence  on  the  event ;  being,  I  say,  assured  of  these  facts,  I 
think  any  moie  minute  attention  than  what  is  commonly  paid, 
would  be  frivolous  and  unnecessary. 

I  can  therefore  pay  little  attention  to  the  relations  of  the  ex- 
traordinary benefits  of  vegetable  diet,  in  persons  who  have 
afterward  used,  for  a  length  of  time,  the  customary  diet  of  the 
country,  Avithout  perceptible  injury.  If,  in  fact,  disease  be 
caused  by  diet,  if  not  the  immediate  symptoms,  still  the  dis- 
eased state  of  the  constitution  is  really  attributable  to  this 
source,  the  constitution  should  improve  by  a  change  of  diet,  and 
either  the  same  symptons,  or  at  least  the  same  diseased  state  of 
constitution,  should  recur  upon  relapsing  into  the  former  habits. 
Such  only  can  be  allowed  to  be  a  legitimate  proof.  In  other 
cases,  such  as  I  have  alluded  to,  the  abstinence  enjoined  may 
have  been  beneficial,  but  the  restoration  to  health  must  be  con- 
ceived to  have  been  due  to  other  causes. 


i 


70  ^■'EGETABLE    DIET 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  objections  to  vegetable  food:  paleness  and  loss  of  fleshy  that  the 
feeble  require  nourishing  diet ;  differences  of  constitution  ;  uneasiness 
from  vegetables ;  that  eating  flesh  injures  only  by  excess  ;  that  it  is  not 
unfavorable  to  intellect ;  that  it  has  been  found  useful  in  disease. — 
How  far  liking  justifies  the  practice. — Fish,  milk. — The  cookery  of 
vegetables. 

In  questions  which  must  ultimatel}^  be  decided  by  experience, 
I  know  not  Avliether  it  is  necessary  or  useful  to  employ  much 
time  in  argument.  Perhaps  to  lay  a  simple  statement  of  the 
facts  before  the  public  is  the  most  proper  and  the  most  power- 
ful argument  tliat  can  be  employed.  If,  therefore,  I  consider 
shortly  some  of  the  objections  which  I  have  heard  made  to  the 
use  of  a  vegetable  regimen,  it  is  because  I  have  thought  some 
respect  was  due  to  the  quarters  from  which  they  have  pro- 
ceeded ;  and  still  more  to  popular  opinion,  which,  it  is  unfortu- 
nately too  true,  is  vehemently  adverse  to  it. 

The  palHdness  and  shrinking  of  the  features  and  of  the  whole 
body,  which  sometimes  succeed  the  disuse  of  animal  food,  is 
apt  to  excite  an  alarm,  and  a  fear  of  essential  and  irretrievable 
injury  to  the  constitution.  Let  us  consider  how  impossible  it 
is  that  this  should  be  otherwise,  and  therefore  how  little  is  to 
be  apprehended  from  it. 

Animal  food  commonly  gives  a  more  succulent  habit,  a 
greater  fullness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  higher  color  to  the 
face.  It  may  be  suspected  that  all  the  fibres  become  softer  ; 
that  the  force  of  aggregation  of  the  molecules  which  compose 
them  is  diminished.  In  the  healthy,  the  high  color  of  the  face 
is  not  unpleasing,  though  coarse.  In  the  lads  in  the  service  of 
butchers  it  may  be  observed  the  most  distinctly.  In  others  of 
feebler  stamina  it  is  an  habitual  flush. 

This  color  it  is  which  most  imposes  upon  superficial  observ- 
ers. To  see  a  pallid  child  or  young  person  become  more  rudd}^ 
from  what  is  called  better  living,  is  a  pleasure  w^hich  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  resist ;  and  to  observe  the  color  fade  from  an  opposite 
treatment,  without  alarm,  requires  a  thorough  confidence  in  the 
justness  of  principles,  which  the  ignorant  and  the  timid  can 
hardly  be  supposed  to  possess.  It  ought,  therefore,  to  be  con- 
sidered what  it  really  indicates. 

In  fact,  what  can  it  indicate  but  an  excitation  of  all  the  small 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  71 

vessels  of  the  face  ?  This  excitat  on  cannot  be  supposed  to  be 
confined  to  the  surface  of  the  cheeks,  but  must  extend  to  all 
the  contiguous  parts ;  to  the  internal  as  well  as  the  external ; 
to  the  parts  within  the  cranium  as  well  as  the  integuments ;  in 
a  word,  to  the  organ  which  regulates  and  connects  all  the  other 
organs  of  the  body — to  the  brain  itself.  If,  therefore,  the  use 
of  animal  food  be  an  unnatural  custom,  its  primary  operation  is 
to  give  an  unnatural  excitation  to  th  i  brain ;  and  all  its  conse- 
quences of  improved  color,  increased  strength,  and  even  of  ap- 
parently improved  health,  must  be  reckoned  consequences  of 
this  excitation.* 

A  further  consequence  is,  that  life  is,  in  all  its  stages,  hurried 
on  with  an  unnatural  and  unhealthy  rapidity.  We  arrive  at 
puberty  too  soon ;  the  passions  are  developed  too  early  :f  in  the 
male  they  acquire  an  impetuosity  approaching  to  madness;  the 
females  breed  too  quick ;  processes  which  ought  to  be  distinct 
and  successive  are  blended  together  and  confounded ;  women 
who  ought  to  be  nurses  become  pregnant,  even  with  the  child 
at  the  breast  ij  finally,  the  system  becomes  prematurely  ex- 
hausted and  destroyed  :  we  become  diseased  and  old  when  we 
ought  to  be  in  the  middle  of  life. 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  I  can  hardly  be  so  misunder- 
stood as  if  I  asserted  all  this  to  be,  in  fact,  the  operation  of  ani- 

*  Professor  Sweetzer,  of  this  city,  in  his  interesting  work  on  con- 
sumption, remarks  :  "  That  if  diet  is  superabundant  and  exciting,  a  ple- 
thoric and  inflammatory  state  of  the  system  will  be  induced,  highly  in- 
compatible with  the  equable  and  healthful  play  of  the  different  functions, 
and  tending  indirectly  to  waste  the  energies  of  life.  How  often  is  it  that 
fat,  plethoric,  flesh-eating  children,  their  faces  looking  as  if  the  blood 
were  just  ready  to  ooze  out,  are  with  the  greatest  complacency  exhibited 
by  their  parents  as  patterns  of  health  !  But  let  it  be  ever  remembered, 
that  condition  of  the  system  popularly  called  rude  or  full  health,  and  the 
result  of  high  feeding,  is  too  often  closely  bordering  on  a  state  of  disease." 
The  good  sense  of  these  remarks  must  be  apparent  to  every  one  who 
thinks. — S. 

t  In  all  the  cases  of  precocious  menstruation — and  I  have  knowji  a  num- 
ber— such  as  in  whom  this  function  has  appeared  at  the  age  of  twelve 
or  thirteen  years,  there  has  been  very  free  use  of  and  a  great  desire  for 
flesh  meat.     I  have  been  particular  in  noticing  this  fact. 

I  will  admit  that  a  very  free  use  of  milk,  eggs,  butter,  salt,  and  other 
stimulants,  might  easily  cause  preocious  puberty,  without  the  use  of 
flesh,  especially  in  the  hot-bed  and  unnatural  life  of  cities. — S. 

X  I  have  known  more  cases  than  one  in  the  city  of  New  York  of  flesh- 
eating  mothers,  of  very  feeble  health,  who  yet  have  become  pregnant, 
time  after  lime,  on  an  average  of  nearly  every  year,  and  each  and  every 
time  after  the  first,  while  the  child  was  yet  at  the  breast.  Tue  undue 
stimulus  of  animal  food  has  e\'idently  a  strong  influence  in  these  cases  oi 
premature  pregnancy. — S» 


72  VEGETABLE    DIET 

mal  food  alone.  All  the  habitual  irritations  appeir  to  have 
similar  effects  on  the  body ;  they  stimulate  to  excessive  action, 
which  is  followed  by  premature  exhaustion.  But  I  cannot 
doubt  that  such  would  be  the  operation  of  animal  food  alone,  i'^ 
every  other  cause  of  disease  were  removed.  An  experiment 
which,  as  I  have  heard,  lias  often  been  made  upon  chickens, 
illustrates  its  general  action  on  animal  bodies.*  They  feed 
hens  upon  flesh,  to  make  them  lay  eggs  faster.  Every  thing, 
therefore,  that  has  been  said  in  favor  of  animal  diet ;  of  its 
strengthening,  and  invigorating,  and  fattening,  and  so  forth,f 
may  be  perfectly  true  ;  and  still  the  consequences  drawn  from 
these  appearances  may  be  false,  and  its  use  may  be,  notwith- 
standing, radically  improper. 

Now,  if  a  body  be,  to  the  senses,  modified  by  the  action  :f 
animal  food  ;  if  it  be  enlarged,  and  bloated,  and  reddened,  it 
must  necessarily  happen  that  by  its  abstraction  these  effects 
must  cease,  and  appearances  the  very  opposite  of  these  may  be 
expected  to  take  place,  that  is  to  say,  the  body  may  be  ex- 
pected to  diminish,  and  to  condense,  and  to  become  paler.  If 
the  face  be  highl}'^  colored  or  flushed,  it  may  be  expected  to 
lose  in  a  measure  this  appearance.  A  load  of  fat,  which  is  but 
an  incumbrance  to  its  bearer,  may  perhaps  vanish,  and  so  the 
clothes  may  hang  about  the  body.  But  if  neither  this  color 
nor  this  fatness  be  health,  nor  indicative  of  health,  what  is  there 
to  fear  from  the  loss  of  them  ?  If,  on  the  contrary,  these  ap- 
pearances are  wholly  morbid,  we  surely  ought  rather  to  be 
pleased  than  mortified  that  we  have  got  rid  of  them.J 

*  I  need  hardly  say,  of  animals  not  by  nature  caniivorous.  Chicken  are 
probably,  in  some  degree,  omnivorous.  Though  seeds  is  their  favorite 
food,  they  would,  I  suppose,  pick  up  insects,  worms,  slugs,  etc. 

t  Mr.  Malthus  was,  I  have  little  doubt,  deceived  from  not  making  this 
distinction.  He  says,  "  Even  in  Norway,  notwithstanding  the  disadvan- 
tage of  a  severe  and  uncertain  climate,  from  the  little  1  saw  in  a  few 
weeks'  residence  in  the  country,  and  the  information  I  could  collect  from 
others,  I  am  inclined  to  thiiuk  that  the  poor  were,  on  the  average,  better 
off  than  in  England.  Their  houses  and  clothing  were  superior,  and 
though  they  had  no  white  bread,  they  had  much  more  meat,  fish,  and 
milk  than  our  laborers ;  and  I  particularly  remarked  that  the  farmers' 
boys  were  much  stouter  and  healthier-looking  lads  than  those  of  the  same 
description  in  England."  If  such  a  diet  gave  a  more  healthy  race  of 
people  than  one  that  was  principally  farinaceous,  all  that  I  have  said  must 
be  wrong.  But  the  tables  of  mortality  prove  the  contrary  ;  and,  there- 
fore, these  appearances  of  stoutness  and  good  looks,  in  the  younger  part 
of  the  community,  are  not  indicative  of  superior  health. 

t  That  the  mere  loss  of  flesh,  and,  to  some  degree,  strength — circum 
stances  which  must  sometimes,  though  by  no  means  always,  occur — on 
commencing  vegetable  diet,  are  not  necessarily  un&vorable,  is  abundantly 


r\    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  73 

I  cannot  doubt  that,  as  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  safely  assert- 
ed that  the  florid  are  less  healthy  than  those  who  have  little 
color.  An  increase  of  color  has  been  ever  judged  to  be  a  sign 
of  impending  illness.  "  If  a  man  becomes  fuller,"  says  one  of 
the  ancients,  "and  better  looking,  and  with  more  color  than 
usual,  he  ought  to  consider  these  blessings  as  suspicious."  Our 
own  vulgar,  at  this  day,  if  told  that  they  look  much  better  than 
usual,  regard  it  as  a  sign  of  approaching  disease.  How  many, 
with  what  is  thought  the  glow  of  health  on  their  cheeks,  are 
inwardly  tabid  ?  How  many  on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  about 
to  be  cut  off  by  an  acute  illness  ?  Every  day  gives  such  pain- 
ful examples  of  these  truths,  that  I  should  be  ashamed  to  urge 
them,  had  I  not  heard  even  experienced  medical  practitioners 
refer  to  the  fine  color  of  the  cheek  as  a  proof  of  good  health. 
The  young  lady  who  last  gave  occasion  to  this  remark,  has 
since,  I  believe,  died  of  consumption. 

It  seems  very  evident  that  our  general  manner  of  hfe  tends 
to  load  the  head,  and  give  an  unnatural  fuUness  to  the  face.  This 
has  given  us  ideas  both  of  beauty  and  proportion,  which  are  far 
from  just,  as  not  coinciding  with  th^  most  perfect  specimens  of 
the  human  form.  It  has  corrupted  even  the  taste  of  our  paint- 
ers. I  have  heard  from  an  eminent  artist,  that  the  custom  of 
painting  children  with  the  cheeks  enormously  swollen  is  con- 
fined to  the  modern  school ;  that  it  was  not  practiced  by  the 
ancient  sculptors  or  painters.  Though  a  well  colored  and  full 
face  cannot  be  otherwise  than  pleasing,  yet  it  may  be  often  ob- 
served in  union  with  a  narrow  chest,  shrunk  limbs,  and  a  tumid 
belly.  Many  an  anxious  mother  says  of  her  child,  that  its  face 
is  the  only  part  about  it  which  looks  well.  lso\y  if,  in  such  a 
case,  by  any  course  of  dieting — for  medicine  is  wholly  out  of  the 
question — we  can  strengthen  the  limbs,  cause  the  chest  to  ex- 
pand, and  the  abdomen  to  shrink,  we  should  hail  these  changes 
as  signs  of  highly  improved  health.  If  then  it  should  happen, 
at  the  same  time,  that  the  face  becomes  less  full,  and  the  color 
less  florid,  we  ought  certainly  to  reckon  this  fullness  and  color 
to  be  morbid,  and  as  such  be  happy  at  the  loss  of  it. 

It  aftbrds  no  trifling  grounds  of  suspicion  against  the  use  of 
animal  food,  that  it  so  obviously  inclines  to  corpulency.     On 

proved  by  ihe  success  of  the  hunger  cure,  which  I  have  seen  pracliced  ia 
Germany.  If  a  person  is  losing  bad  flesh,  which,  under  a  properly  re- 
gulated vegetable  diet,  must  often  be  the  case,  he  is  certain  of  growing 
stronger  again  as  he  gets  better  muscle.  Flesh  is  absolutely  no  criterion 
of  health,  nor  is  a  temporary  loss  of  strength  any  evidence  that  an  indivi- 
dual is  growing  worse. — S. 
4 


74  VEG.l  TABLE    DIET 

this  subject  the  reasonmg  of  Dr.  Arbuthnot  is  unanswerable. 
"  You  may  see  an  army  of  forty  thousand  foot- soldiers  without 
a  fat  man,  and  I  dare  affirm  that  by  plenty  and  rest  twenty  of 
the  forty  shall  grow  fat,"  Corpulency  is  of  itself  a  species  of 
disease,  and  a  still  surer  harbinger  of  other  diseases.  It  is  so 
even  in  animals.  When  a  sheep  has  become  fat,  the  butcher 
knows  it  must  be  killed  or  it  will  rot  and  decline.  It  is  rare 
indeed  for  the  corpulent  io  be  long-lived.  They  are  at  the  same 
time  sleepy,  lethargic,  and  short-breathed.  Thus  Hippocrates 
says,  "  those  who  are  ur*commonly  fat  die  more  quickly  than 
the  lean."  The  monstrous  and  bloated  form  which  the  human 
body  occasionally  assumes,  is  a  more  pointed  satire  upon  the 
customs  which  engender  it,  than  any  which  can  be  conveyed 
by  words.     He  that  runs  may  read.* 

*  This  paragraph  of  Dr.  Lanibe's  brings  to  mind  a  mostbarlarous  prac- 
tice with  which  I  became  acquainted  in  Earape,  a  knowledge  of  which 
may  be  gained  from  the  following  extracts  from  my  note  book,  written 
while  in  the  old  country : 

"  I  presume  most  persons  have  heard  something  of  the  process  of  fatten?- 
ing  geese  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  their  livers,  which  are  considered 
by  the  eating  and  drinking  gentry  in  the  old  country  a  great  rarity.  Thia 
business,  revolting  as  it  is  bothlo  the  feelings  and  taste  of  a  person  of  un- 
depraved  appetite,  is  made  a  regular  occupation  in  certain  parts.  Men  and 
women  both  follow  the  art  of  thus  fattening  geese  as  their  only  means  of 
getting  a  worldly  subsistence.  It  is  carried  on  principally  in  Belgium. 
The  mode  is  as  follows :  Geese  of  a  suitable  size  are  nailed  with  their 
feet  upon  a  board,  a  T-headed  nail  and  a  piece  of  leather  being  used  for 
each  foot.  (I  do  not  know  whether  women  engage  in  this  part  of  the 
operation.)  The  animals  thus  fastened  are  set  before  afire.  This  is  done 
to  cause  a  feverishness  in  their  systems,  through  which  they  becama 
very  thirsty.  Pots  of  milk  are  then  set  by  them,  of  which  they  drink 
freely  to  quench  the  thirst.  After  this  they  are  fed  with  a  dough  of 
Indian  meal  as  long  as  they  will  eat.  More  is  then  forced  into  their 
throats,  and  pressed  down  their  neck  into  the  stomach.  This  is  a  prac- 
tice that  requii-^s  tact,  otherwise  the  animals  would  become  choked. 
After  this  '  stuffing,'  as  it  is  called,  they  are  put  away  in  a  dark  place  to 
sleep.  Three  times  in  the  forenoon,  and  the  same  in  the  afternoon,  the 
geese  are  thus  placed  before  the  fire  and  fed.  At  the  end  of  three  weeks 
they  have  become  so  fat  and  stupid  they  are  nearly  on  the  point  of  dying. 
They  are  then  killed  to  save  them,  their  bodies  being  almost  an  entire 
mass  of  fat,  with  livers  also  fat  and  most  enormously  enlarged.  With 
these  are  made  the  famous  'fat  goose  liver  pies.'' 

*'The  best  and  most  cosily  of  these  articles  are  made  in  Strasburg,  to  which 
city  the  livers  are  taken  from  Belgium.  One  liver,  with  a  portion  of 
fat  pork,  the  whole  being  surr«unded  with  very  rich  pastry,  is  sufficient 
for  two  pies,  each  of  which  are  sold  in  London  and  Paris  at  one  pound 
sterling.  The  pie  is  transported  in  a  circular  box,  about  the  size  of  a 
three-quart  measure.  We  see  many  of  these  in  the  windows  of  the  higher 
victualing  shops  and  pastry  establishments  of  Paris,  and  sometimes  in  Lon- 
don. They  are  considered  by  many  as  being  a  great  rarity.  The  poor 
and  laboring  part  of  the  community  cannot  of  course  indulge  in  so  d©- 


IN    CHROMC    ■    SEA.ES.  75 

I  would  not  have  it  supposed,  however  (as  ignorance  is  apt 
to  imagine),  that  great  paleness,  or  great  leanness,  is  a  neces- 
sary consequence  of  a  vegetable  regimen.  Many  who  are  lean 
upon  animal  food  thrive  upon  vegetables,  and  improve  in  color. 
I  could  cite  numerous  examples  of  persons  perfectly  well  nour- 
ished, and  not  only  enjoying,  but  having  every  external  sign  of 
perfect  health,  on  a  strict  vegetable  regimen.  Mr.  Luckcock 
gained  a  few  pounds  in  weight  by  relinquishing  animal  food. 
He  says  that  a  young  boy,  a  son  of  his  own,  upon  the  same 
diet  enjoys  excellent  health.  Mr.  Lawrence,  assistant-surgeon 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  in  a  twelvemonth  increased  in 
weight  nine  pounds,  upon  a  vegetable  regimen.  Dr.  A.  P, 
Buchan,  physician  to  the  Westminster  Hospital,  told  me  that, 
when  a  young  man,  he  lived  three  years  upon  vegetables,  and 
was  never  in  better  health.  And  I  hear  that  there  are  four 
hundred  persons  at  Manchester,  who  at  this  time  abstain  from 
animal  food,  influenced  by  rehgious  principles,  and  that  they 
enjoy  at  least  as  good  if  not  better  health  than  their  fellow- 
townsmen.  More  particularly  I  have  not  been  informed.  All 
the  notions  of  vegetable  diet  affording  only  a  deficient  nutriment, 
notions  which  are  countenanced  by  the  language  of  Cullen  and 
other  great  physicians,  are  wholly  groundless.  They  have  been 
founded  upon  observations  of  its  effects  on  great  invalids.  Such 
subjects  may  possibly  shrink  and  become  pale.  It  is  enough, 
surely,  if  such  persons  can  prolong  their  lives,  though  it  may 
be  at  the  expense  of  their  looks.  To  exchange  a  pale  face  for 
a  premature  shroud  appears  to  me  but  a  sorry  bargain. 

I  hear  much  gabble  about  giving  people  proper  support,  and 
am  told  that  the  feeble  require  what  they  call  nourishing  things. 
I  do  not  think  it  worth  while  to  insist  upon  perfect  strictness, 
where  the  ultimate  advantage  is  not  likely  to  be  great ;  nor  is 
it  very  politic  in  a  practitioner  to  recommend  with  earnestness 
what  it  is  probable  will  never  be  attended  to.  But  we  are  here 
discussing  principles.  I  would  fain  ask,  then,  whether  it  does 
not  appear  that  these  feeble  and  debihtated  persons  have  not,  for 
the  most  part,  passed  a  day  without  laying  in  a  plentiful  store 
of  tliese  nourishing  things  ;  and  whether  having  been  nourished 
into  their  present  state  of  debility,  it  is  likely  that  they  can,  by 
pursuing  the  same  methods,  be  nourished  out  of  it  ?  I  would 
ask  the  more  reflecting  and  better  informed,  whether  the  Hip- 

sii'able  a  luxury.  I  have  thought  the  pork  pie — a  common  thing  in  the 
eating-houses  of  New  York — disgusting  enough,  but  it  will  be  conceded, 
I  think,  that  in  comparison  with  the  fat  goose  liver  pie  it  is  quite  a  proper 
dish."— S. 


76  VEGETABLE    DIET 

pocratic  maxim  is  not  founded  in  truth,  which  declares :  "  In 
bodies  that  are  not  pure,  the  more  you  nourish  them,  the  more 
you  injure  them?" 

It  is  said  that  there  are  great  varieties  of  constitution,  which 
produce  corresponding  varieties  of  diseases,  and  that  it  is  im- 
possible that  the  same  regimen  can  be  adapted  to  them  all.  The 
vulgar  proverb  is  quoted,  and,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  by  a 
gentleman  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  some  of  the  facts  con- 
tained in  my  "  Reports  on  Cancer,"  that  what  is  one  man's 
meat  is  another  man's  poison ;  and  many  exclaim,  A  vegetable 
regimen  may  do  very  well  with  some,  but  I  am  sure  it  would 
not  suit  me ;  my  own  feelings  tell  me  so,  and  what  better  guide 
can  we  possibly  follow  ? 

I  shall  consider  these  objections  in  their  order. 

I  have  already  said,  that  however  various  constitutions  may 
be,  diseases,  with  different  and  even  opposite  symptoms,  may 
be  in  their  essence  identical.  The  variety  of  constitution  is  dis- 
played in  the  various  and  ever  varying  forms  of  dfeease,  and  in 
the  irregular  times  at  which  they  take  place  from  infancy  to 
extreme  old  age.  The  identity  then  is  not  in  the  forms  and 
external  signs  of  disease.  It  must  consist  in  some  circumstance 
which  is  common  to  them  all.  This  circumstance  is  a  decay 
and  final  destruction  of  the  vital  powers.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
single  and  infallible  criterion  by  which  to  judge  of  this  decay. 
It  may  exist,  though  the  organization  of  the  body  is  perfect. 
It  is  not  incompatible  with  great  apparent  strength  and  energy 
of  action.  The  principle  of  life  is  not  an  object  of  sense,  and 
we  infer  both  its  existence  and  its  modifications  from  the  phe- 
nomena of  hving  bodies.  Whether  in  its  decay,  the  loss  of 
power  be  confined  to  the  organ  principally  affected,  or  whe- 
ther it  extend  primarily  to  the  whole  body,  it  is  not  easy  to 
determine.  But  that  it  is  general  and  uniform  throughout  the 
whole  system,  seems  to  me,  from  many  circumstances  which  I 
have  observed,  to  be  by  far  the  most  probable  opinion.  Its 
total  destruction  is  the  death  of  the  body. 

If  the  gentleman  who  tells  me  that  one  man's  meat  is  an- 
other man's  poison,  and  who  is  so  much  better  versed  in  the 
anatomy  of  the  human  body  than  I  pretend  to  be,  will  show 
me  in  what  I  have  mistaken  when  I  have  asserted  that  man  is 
herbivorous  in  his  structure ;  if  he  can  show  that  there  is  any 
radical  difference  in  this  respect  among  the  individuals  of  the 
human  species,  I  shall  then  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  that  there 
is  a  radical  divinity  in  human  constitutions  beyond  what  I  have 
acknowledge'^.,      But  till   tliis  is  done,  I  must  agree  with  a 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  77 

sprightly  friend  of  my  own,  who  says  that  the  proverb  justly 
interpreted  means  no  more  than  that  what  is  meat  for  the  pa- 
tient may,  perchance,  be  poison  to  the  doctor. 

The  question  of  feeling  may  deserve  a  little  more  considera- 
tion, since  it  is  apt  to  deceive  persons  of  good  judgment.  The 
impulse  or  feeling  of  the  moment  is  that  which  is  naturally  the 
immediate  motive  for  action.  What  gives  pleasure  we  naturally 
seek ;  and  we  avoid  what  occasions  uneasiness.  And  this  seems 
so  just  and  reasonable  a  ground  of  action  that  I  can  hardly 
doubt  that,  in  a  truly  sound  and  healthy  state  of  the  system, 
we  might  safely  trust  to  our  sensations;  that  what  is  most 
agreeable  would  be  most  healthy,  and  what  gives  uneasiness 
would  be  also  injurious. 

But  it  is  obvious  that  we  cannot  safely  argue  so  in  a  diseased 
system.  In  this  case  agents  may  neither  produce  their  natural 
and  appropriate  sensations ;  nor  sensations  inform  us  justly  of 
the  qualities  of  bodies.  The  same  habit  which  has  reconciled 
us  to  many  unnatural  and  noxious  substances  has  likewise  given 
us  a  disrelish  for  those  which  are  natural  and  salutary.  Gas- 
sendi  tells  us  of  a  lamb  which,  having  been  bred  up  on  ship- 
board, refused  to  eat  grass.  We  surely  then  cannot  wonder 
that,  having  accustomed  our  stomachs  to  every  thing  which 
earth,  sea,  or  air  aifords,  we  have  obliterated  our  relish  for 
simple  vegetable  food. 

It  may  very  well  be,  therefore,  that  by  habit  animal  food 
may  cause  no  uneasiness  on  the  stomach ;  and  vegetable  food 
may  have  the  very  opposite  effect.  I  can  only  say  it  is  a  great 
misfortune  to  have  the  feelings  of  the  stomach  so  completely 
perverted.  It  may  be  that  leaving  off  animal  food  may  cause 
suffering  and  uneasy  feeling.  This  a  greater  misfortune  still,  if 
the  health  require  it.  But  it  betrays  a  profound  ignorance  of 
the  elementary  principles  of  human  nature  to  mention  such 
things  as  serious  objections  to  a  vegetable  regimen. 

The  case  of  spirituous  liquors,  in  which  every  child  knows 
how  to  reason  properly,  is  exactly  parallel.  I  should  be 
ashamed  to  dwell  upon  it  if  I  did  not  know  that,  in  fact,  such 
objections  have  been  strongly  and  effectually  urged.  I  would 
ask,  then,  would  any  one  listen  a  moment  to  a  gin  drinker  who 
should  tell  us  how  warm  and  comfortable  his  morning  dram  is 
to  his  stomach,  and  how  low  and  cold  and  flatulent  he  is  with- 
out it?  In  hke  manner,  no  doubt,  the  subduction  of  animal 
food  is  withdrawing  an  accustomed  irritation ;  a  strong,  but  an 
unnatural  appetite  remains  unsatisfied ;  a  craving  takes  place 
which  it  may  require  a  determined  effort  to  subdue ;  and  it  may 


78  VEGETABLE    DIET 

take  som4  time  before  the  old  habits  and  old  desires  are  com- 
pletely eradicated ;  and  before  the  stomach  feels  as  well  satis- 
fied with  vegetable  food  as  it  did  with  the  former  fare.  An 
additional  misfortune  is  that  these  depraved  feelings  and  appe- 
tites are  the  strongest  in  the  most  diseased  persons.  By  reso- 
lution, however,  they  may  be  conquered ;  and  gradually  animal 
food,  so  far  from  being  an  object  of  appetite,  will  cease  to  be 
thought  of.  The  very  remembrance  of  it  will  be  effaced.  I 
must  assert  that,  except  uneasy  feeling  such  as  I  have  described, 
I  have  observed  no  ill  consequences  from  the  relinquishment  of 
animal  food.  The  apprehended  danger  of  the  change,  with 
which  many  scare  themselves  and  their  neighbors,  is  a  mere 
phantom  of  the  imagination ;  the  danger,  in  truth,  lies  wholly 
on  the  other  side. 

But  besides  the  uneasiness  from  the  change  of  habits,  there 
may  be  consequent  uneasiness  affecting  any  part  of  the  body. 
This  may  have  various  sources.  If  other  causes  of  disease  con- 
tinue to  operate,  such  as  putrescent  water,  or  fermented  liquors, 
which  have  power  sufficient  ultimately  to  destroy  life,  the  source 
of  this  uneasiness  is  manifest.  Moreover,  diseased  action  con- 
tinues long  after  the  antecedent  causes  have  been  removed. 

Parts  imperfect  in  their  primary  organization,  or  rendered 
unsound  artificially,  may  perish  and  be  renewed.  Newly-formed 
parts  commonly  possess  feeble  powers  of  life,  in  consequence 
of  which  they  may  again  perish  and  be  again  renewed ;  and 
this  may  take  place  repeatedly.  In  these  processes  we  see 
many  sources  of  uneasiness  ;  of  suffering  ;  even  of  acute  pain, 
however  cautious  men  may  be  in  their  manner  of  living  and 
attentive  to  the  rules  laid  down  for  them.  They  may  cause 
inflammations,  ulcerations,  suppurations,  sloughings,  and,  by 
consequence,  every  sort  of  pain  which  is  attendant  upon  these 
processes. 

Some  of  the  uneasiness  consequent  upon  the  use  of  vegeta- 
ble food  is  due,  as  I. have  explained  in  another  place,  to  the 
improvement  of  the  senses,  which  follows  the  disuse  of  animal 
food,  and  the  restoration  of  the  natural  sensibility  of  the  nerv- 
ous system.  This  improvement  is  not  confined  to  the  organs 
of  sense,  but  pervades  every  organ  and  influences  every  func- 
tion of  every  part  of  the  system.  The  torpor,  therefore,  intj-o- 
duced  by  the  animal  food  must  be  equally  diffused  over  the 
whole  system ;  all  the  secreting  organs,  all  the  membranes, 
probably  the  whole  of  the  vasculai-,  glandular,  and  absorbent 
systems  suffer  under  it,  as  well  as  the  nervous  system.  Whe- 
the**  each  suffers  independently,  or  the  whole,  in  consequence 


IN    CHRONIC     DISEASES.  79 

Oi  the  union  of  every  organ  tlirougli  the  medium  of  the  nervous 
system,  it  is  not  worth  while  perhaps  to  inquire.  But  observa- 
tion shows  that  there  is  no  organ  of  the  body  which,  under  the 
use  of  vegetable  food,  does  not  receive  an  increase  of  sensibility, 
or  of  that  power  which  is  thought  to  be  imparted  to  it  by  the 
nervous  system.  The  observation  of  this  it  is  which  has  made 
me  think  it  most  probable  that  the  deca}-  and  final  destruction 
of  the  powers  of  life,  in  the  diseases  terminating  in  death,  per- 
vades the  whole  body,  though  the  principal  apparent  disease 
may  be  confined  to  a  single  organ.  The  same  consideration 
shows  that  palsy  is  a  condition  of  the  system  not  confined  to 
the  muscles,  or  the  organs  of  sense.  There  is  no  fibre  in  the 
body  which  may  not  be  paralytic. 

Morever,  th-ere  are  many  pains  which  persons  suffer  in  the 
early  or  middle  parts  of  life  which  disappear  as  they  advance 
to  old  age.  On  this  account  there  are  those  who  are  an  excep- 
tion to  the  more  common  rule  of  old  age  being  the  season  of 
infirmity  and  suffering ;  on  the  contrary,  they  enjoy  in  age  a 
uniform  degree  of  ease  and  comfort  to  Avhieh  th-ey  were  stran- 
gers in  the  former  part  of  their  lives.  Upon  such  observations 
must  have  been  founded  the  maxim  of  Hippocrates,  that  "  old 
men  for  the  most  part  have  less  sickness  than  the  young."  I 
see  not  what  reasonable  explication  can  be  given  of  these  phe- 
nomena, except  by  attributing  them  to  the  different  degrees  of 
sensibility  which  the  body  is  endued  with  during  the  different 
stages  of  its  existence.  From  this  cause  the  young  suffer  from 
impressions  which  the  apathy  and  torpor  of  the  old  shield  them 
against.  I  think  it  must  be  in  the  memory  of  every  person  in 
the  middle  of  life,  that  when  they  were  children  the  coldness 
of  a  frosty  morning  was  infinitely  more  piercing  than  when  they 
liad  arrived  at  manhood. 

Now  this  diminution  of  sensibility  may  be  natural ;  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  increasing  years.  As  far  as  this  is  the 
case  it  cannot  be  deemed  morbid ;  and  it  would  be  absurd  to 
expect  to  prevent  or  remedy  it.  But  as  far  as  we  accelerate 
old  age  by  depraved  customs,  or  diminish  our  natural  portion 
of  sensibility  by  the  use  of  deleterious  substances,  so  far  we 
may  hope  to  recover  it,  in  a  measure,  by  adopting  more  salu- 
brious habits.  It  is  possible,  then,  that  under  these  circum- 
stances pain  may  arise  in  the  system  which  may  indicate  the 
recovery  of  a  portion  of  sensibility  that  was  lost.  Such  pain 
ought  to  be  deemed  salutary.  No  one  can  question  that  to 
feel  pain  must  be  better  than  to  be  stupefied.  Some  illustra- 
tions and  examples  of  thi*  will  be  given  in  the  sequel 


80  VEGETABLE    DIET 

These  considerations  show  sufficiently  how  pain  may  b«  pro- 
duced in  tl)e  system  independent  of  the  ingesta.  Ther  evince 
further  tliat  the  production  of  pain  or  imeasiness  may  form  no 
soHd  objection  against  the  propriety  of  the  regimen  recom- 
mended in  chronic  disease ;  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be  an  evi- 
dence of  its  beneficial  influence. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  the  only  advantage  of  vegetable 
diet  is,  that  by  it  excess  is  avoided,  and  that  it  is  excess  which 
is  alone  injurious ;  and  excess  of  animal  food  is  acknowledged 
to  be  more  so  than  of  vegetable.  I  answer,  that  the  different 
effects  of  excess,  according  to  the  kind  of  matter  employed, 
show  an  essential  difference  in  the  operation  of  these  matters 
upon  the  body.  Excess  of  vegetable  matter  produces  only 
simple  distension ;  excess  of  animal  matter,  an  insuperable 
loathing  and  disgust ;  sometimes  horrible  nausea  and  serious 
illness.  These  matters  then  are  essentially  different,  when  first 
applied  to  the  body.  They  are  different,  also,  in  their  opera- 
tion upon  all  the  functions.  But  of  this  enough  has  been  said 
already. 

I  cannot  but  think  that  the  ancients,  whether  physicians  or 
philosophers,  who  certainly  understood  much  less  of  drugs  than 
the  moderns,  had,  to  balance  it,  a  far  more  correct  knowledge 
of  the  influence  of  food  upon  the  health,  the  morals,  and  the 
intellect.  Socrates,  Plato,  Zeno,  Epicurus,  and  others  of  the 
mastei's  of  ancient  wisdom,  adhered  to  the  Pythagorean  diet, 
and  are  known  to  have  arrived  at  old  age  with  the  enjoyment 
of  uninterrupted  health.  Celsus  asserts,  that  "  the  bodies  which 
are  filled  in  the  manner  of  the  athletes,  (that  is,  with  much  ani- 
mal food),  become  the  most  quickly  old  and  diseased."  To 
the  same  purpose  the  poet  writes — 

"  Immodicis  brevis  est  aetas  et  rara  senectus." — Martial. 

The  doctrine  of  Galen  is,  that  "  food  which  affords  the  most 
nutriment  to  the  body,  taken  in  excess,  generates  cold  diseases." 
It  was  proverbial,  that  the  ancient  athletce  were  the  most  stupid 
of  men.  The  cynic  Diogenes,  being  asked  what  was  the  cause 
of  this  stupidity,  is  reported  to  have  answered,  "  because  they 
are  wholly  formed  of  the  flesh  of  swine  and  oxen."  Theo- 
phrastus  says,  that  "  abstinence  restores  the  use  of  reason ; 
because  eating  much,  and  feeding  upon  flesh  destroys  it,  and 
makes  the  mind  more  dull,  and  drives  it  to  the  very  extremit) 
of  madness."  In  these  passages,  we  find  the  general  doc- 
trine very  clearly  indicated,  that  animal  food  diminishes  the 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  81 

sensibility  of  the  system,  predisposes  to  diseases,  and  abridges 
life." 

If  the  sensibihty  of  the  nervous  system  is  impaired,  it  must 
follow  that  every  function  which  depends  upon  the  protection 
and  integrity  of  this  system,  must  be  impaired  or  deranged 
likewise.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  the  intel- 
lectual functions,  depending  immediately  upon  the  brain,  can 
be  performed  with  proper  freedom  and  clearness  by  persons 
habitually  using  a  gross  diet.  In  conformity  to  which,  it  has 
been  always  remarked  that  the  southern  nations,  who  live 
mostly  upon  light  food,  are  more  lively  and  spiritual  than  the 
northern,  v/hose  habits  are  opposite.  We  may  observe  tliis 
even  in  countries  nearly  under  the  same  latitude,  but  where  the 
habits  of  life  are  considerably  different ;  as  when  we  compare 
the  English  with  the  French,  or  even  with  the  Irish. 

The  instruments  of  the  will  are  subject  to  the  same  influence. 
When  the  nervous  power  is  perfect,  the  muscular  power  will 
be  perfect  likewise ;  when  it  is  oppressed  and  benumbed,  we 
may  expect  diminished  muscular  power,  less  agility,  slower 
movements.  Sir  George  Mackenzie  observed  this  stronglj 
characterized  in  the  natives  of  Iceland,  to  whom  the  supply  or 
vegetable  food  is  more  scanty  than  in  any  other  European 
country,  Lapland,  perhaps,  excepted.  His  account  is  in 
these  words :  "  Our  servants  professed  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  the  country  we  wished  to  examine,  and  being  young  and 
stout,  we  flattered  ourselves  we  should  have  little  occasion  to 
reproach  them  with  laziness ;  but  we  soon  found  that,  like  all 
other  countrymen,  they  were  systematically  slow  in  their  move- 
ments ;  and  that  every  attempt,  either  in  the  way  of  entreaty 
or  of  threat,  to  make  them  alert,  was  quite  fruitless.  Every 
one  who  undertakes  to  travel  in  Iceland,  must  resolve  to  sub- 
mit with  patience  to  the  tardiness  of  his  attendants." 

When  it  is  said  that  the  use  of  animal  food  "drives  the  mind 
to  the  very  extremity  of  madness,"  it  must  be  understood  with 
the  same  limitations  as  must  be  apphed  to  all  other  constitu- 
tional diseases,  that  it  does  this  in  those  predisposed  to  the 
disease.  This  predisposition  is  an  original  peculiarity  of  con- 
stitution ;  its  essence  escapes  the  senses,  but  its  existence  is 
matter  of  daily  experience.  It  is  equally  matter  of  experience 
that  animal  food  aggravates  the  disease.  I  shall  cite  in  proof 
of  this  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hallaran,  whose  opportunities  of 
observation  have  been  ample,  he  having  been  physician  to  the 
Lunatic  Asylum  of  Cork,  from  the  year  1V89.  It  contains  im- 
portant information  on  more  points  than  one.  He  says : 
4* 


(w  VEGETABLE    DIET 

'^  .t  may  be  necessary  to  premise,  that  the  unfortunate  per- 
sonf:  I  allude  to  are,  with  very  few  exceptions,  composed  of  the 
irli^i^nt  and  friendless  idiots  and  insane  of  the  county  and 
city  of  Cork.  It  therefore  has  been  wisely  resolved  that  their 
common  diet  shall  consist  of  the  farinaceous  fare  to  which,  from 
former  habits,  they  have  been  more  accustomed, 

"  It  has  been  on  many  occasions  a  source  of  satisfaction  to 
me,  and  to  the  governors  at  large,  to  find,  in  compliance  with 
the  necessary  economy  inseparable  with  the  existence  of  so 
large  an  institution,  that  this  simple  fare  has  not  only  been 
proved  fully  competent  to  the  comfortable  maintenance  of  the 
great  majority  of  persons  confined  there,  but  also  on  a  dietetic 
principle  more  immediately  suited  to  the  prevention  of  those 
inconveniences  for  which  aperient  medicines  must  otherwise 
be  in  more  frequent  demand.  There  are  some,  it  is  true,  whose 
previous  habits  of  living  render  a  diet  of  this  description  rather 
unpalatable,  and  among  those  may  be  ranked  the  incorrigible 
drunkard,  whose  excesses  so  often  reduce  him  to  this  level, 
and  to  the  necessity  of  accepting  as  the  onl}^  indulgence  the 
beverage  of  all  others  the  most  likely  to  correct  his  depraved 
appetites,  and  to  restore  him  to  an  inclination  for  the  natural  food 
of  man.  Daily  observation  shows  that  these  unhappy  people, 
after  having  forced  Nature  from  her  fastnesses,  will  still,  by  be- 
ing obliged  to  submit  to  a  strict  observance  of  this  opposite 
mode  of  living,  regain  their  former  cheerful  aspect,  and  even 
from  its  salutary  consequence  gave  evident  proofs  of  return- 
ing intellect. 

*'  There  are  certain  seasons  of  tlie  year,"  he  proceeds,  ''  when 
the  humanity  of  the  governors  disposes  them  to  extend  to  the 
poor  people  at  the  asylum  a  participation  in  the  general  festi- 
vity, and  from  the  prevalence  of  established  custom,  I  allow  of 
It,  as  freely  as  circumstances  do  prudently  admit,  so  far  as  a 
few  generous  meals  of  animal  food.  The  consequences  on  those 
occasions  have  been  uniformly  the  same,  and  so  correctly  anti- 
cipated are  they,  that  the  strictest  preciiutions  are  invariably 
adopted  to  provide  against  the  scene  of  uproar  which  is  sure 
to  follow.  The  sudden  and  unusual  stimulus  of .  animal  food 
may,  therefore,  very  fully  account  for  this  disposition  to  riot ; 
it  might  be  inferred  that,  had  the  indulgence  been  more  fre- 
quently permitted,  such  an  effect  would  not  have  been  so  very 
very  remarkable.  This  may  in  part  apply ;  but  the  fact  is  a 
sufficient  evidence  that  animal  food  tends  strongly  to  the  ag- 
gravation of  msanity.  It.  also  affords  an  additional  argument 
hi  favor  of  a  farinaceous  diet,  in  preference  to  tlie  admittance  of 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  83 

animal  matter,  so  long  as  there  remains  a  prevalence  of  those 
appearances  which  denote  the  insane  orgasm.  It  also  can  be 
ascertained  that,  on  the  first  establishment  of  the  institution, 
when  the  number  within  its  walls  was  far  inferior  to  the  pre- 
sent, and  when  of  course  the  funds  were  more  competent,  and 
the  regular  allowance  of  animal  food  stood  for  once  a  week, 
that  then,  in  like  manner,  the  effect  among  the  insane  was  pre- 
cisely what  it  now  is  known  to  be,  when  produced  by  a  similar 
cause,  at  two  or  three  festivals  within  the  year."^' 

This  evidence  is  highly  important,  whether  considered  either 
negatively  or  positively.  We  will  examine  it  m  each  point  of 
view. 

First,  it  afFoi"ds  very  decisive  evidence  (if  it  were  wanting) 
that  avoiding  animal  food  and  fermented  liquoi-s  will  neither 
prevent  nor  cure  insanity.  Such  was  the  customary  diet  of  the 
great  body  of  these  patients ;  and  though  the  abuse  of  distilled 
spirits  is  assigned  as  having  an  active  share  in  the  increased 
frequency  of  insanity,  it  is  neither  pretended,  nor  is  it  all  likely, 
that  this  abuse  was  universal.  Pinel  has  related  the  case  of  a 
young  man,  "an  inflexible  disciple  of  Pythagoras  in  his  system 
of  diet,"  who  became  subject,  first  to  deep  hypochondriacism, 
and,  finally,  to  total  insanity.  In  no  long  time  he  died.  On 
this  point,  then,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  insanity  must  be 
reckoned  among  the  diseases  which  cannot  be  avoided,  much 
less  cured,  by  the  strictest  adherence  to  the  established  rules  of 
temperance  and  abstinence  from  animal  food. 

But  it  is  equally  clear,  on  the  other  hand,  that  both  the  use 
of  animal  food,  and  still  more  of  fermented  liquors,  aggravates 
and  exasperates  the  disease.  On  this  point  the  evidence  of  Dr 
Hallaran  is  decisive;  and  it  ought  to  be  attended  to  in  our 
Englis-h  -establishments,  and  a  proper  practice  enforced  by  law. 
In  all  of  them  both  the  ono  and  the  other  are  allowed  to  a  large 
extent,  and  in  some  with  little  or  no  I'estriction.  I  myself  have 
seen  a  lunatic,  a  gross,  fat  man,  in  one  of  our  largest  private 
establishments,  with  boiled  beef,  porter,  and  a  bottle  of  wine 
before  him.  It  is  high  time  that  these  abuses  should  be  done 
away.     Probably  many  might  be  restored  to  reason  without 

*  Dr.  William  Saunders  Hallaran,  on  Insanity,  p.  93,  etc.  I  have  seen 
the  facts  related  by  Pinel  on  the  deplorable  consequences  of  a  scanty  and 
insufficient  nutriment  on  the  patients  of  the  Bicetre,  cited  in  opposition  to 
Dr.  Hallaran^s  testimony.  (See  Pinel  on  Insanity,  p.  209.)  But  the  mis- 
chiefs described  by  Pinel  were  not  from  farinaceous  food,  but  from  a  de- 
ficient quantity  of  any  kind.  Indeed,  he  says  expressly,  that  the  reduc- 
tion which  took  place,  and  which  did  so  much  mischief  to  the  poor  peo- 
ple, was  in  the  daily  allowance  of  bre^d. 


84  VEGETABLE    DIET 

any  further  n.easurc  than  a  strict  enforcement  of  temperance 
and  abstinence.     All  certainly  can  not. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  then,  that  animal  food  is  unfavorable 
to  the  intellectual  powers.  In  some  measure  this  effect  is  in- 
stantaneous, it  being  hardly  possible  to  apply  to  any  thing 
requiring  thought  after  a  full  meal  of  meat ;  so  that  is  has  been 
not  improperly  said  of  the  vegetable  feeders,  that  with  them  it 
is  morning  all  day  long.  But  its  effect  is  not  confined  to  the 
immediate  impression.  As  well  as  the  senses,  the  memory,  the 
undv:rstanding,  and  the  imagination,  have  been  observed  to 
improve  by  a  vegetable  diet. 

Notwithstanding  those  palpable  and  well-known  observations, 
I  see  it  is  asked,  in  a  tone  of  triumph.  Whether  it  is  possible 
that  the  species  of  food  which  has  formed  a  Fox  and  a  Pitt, 
can  be  unfavorable  to  the  production  of  talent  ?  Why  did  not 
the  writer  (see  Dr.  Rees's  Encyclopedia,  Article  Man)  who  has 
used  this  argument  carry  it  to  its  full  extent,  and  prove  that  a 
plentiful  use  of  the  bottle  does  not  injure  the  intellect  ?  For  it 
is  well  known  that  one  of  those  illustrious  men  indulged  very 
freely  in  his  daily  potations ;  nor  was  the  other,  I  believe,  re- 
markable for  his  temperance.  But  was  it  ever  asserted  that 
the  use  of  animal  food  absolutely  extinguished  talent,  and  re- 
duced all  men  to  idiotcy  ?  or  that  it  affected  all  alike,  so  that 
no  difference  of  talent  can  be  observed  among  those  who  use 
it?  Animal  food,  it  is  obvious,  excites  and  stimulates  for  a 
time  the  whole  nervous  system  ;  and  as  some  under  its  influence 
are  able  to  perform  prodigious  feats  of  strength,  so  others  may, 
perhaps,  be  excited  to  intellectual  exertions  equally  gigantic. 
But  such  phenomena  do  not  prove  that  animal  food  promotes 
either  healthy  strength,  or  healthy  intellect.* 

I  think  it  might  be  asked,  w^ith  much  more  reason,  how  hap- 
pens it  that  the  families  of  the  whole  body  of  the  British  nobility 
could  produce  but  one  Fox  and  one  Pitt  to  head  the  conflicting 
parties  of  our  senate  ?  how  happens  it  that  the  same  bodj^  has 
produced  not  one  man,  no,  not  one,  who  is  the  acknowledged 
inheritor  of  the  talents  of  these  illustrious  statesmen?  Not 
one ;  though  the  prize  of  successful  exertion  is  the  most  splen- 
did that  can  be  proposed  to  honorable  ambition — the  offices, 
the  dignities,  and  honors  of  the  first  empire  of  the  world. 

*  The  habits  of  Milton,  it  is  said,  were  what  would  be  ordinarily 
termed  austere.  He  was  abstemious  in  diet,  chaste,  an  early  riser,  and 
industrious.  He  tells  us  that  a  lyrist  may  indulge  in  wine  and  a  freer 
life,  but  that  he  who  would  write  an  epic  to  the  nations  must  eat  heana 
and  drink  water.— Q, 


IN    CIIUON'IC    DISEASES.  85 

Surely,  a  stronger  proof  cannot  be  given  of  the  baleful  and  de- 
pressing effects  of  luxury  upon  the  human  character;  liow 
much  it  benumbs  the  faculties  and  stifles  the  embryo  genius ; 
how  much  it  emasculates  the  spirit,  and  paralyzes  the  best 
energies  of  body  and  mind. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  the  great  ornament  of  our  island,  oui' 
immortal  Shakspeare,  ate  flesh  daily.  Nor  do  I  see  what  this 
proves  but  that  among  all  the  flesh  eaters  the  genius  of  Shak- 
speare was  the  most  transcendent.  But  he,  who  understood 
human  nature  the  best  perhaps  of  all  the  sons  of  men,  was  not 
ignorant  that  luxury  debased  the  intellect :  for  he  said 

"  Fat  paunches  have  lean  pates ;  and  dainty  bits 
Make  rich  the  ribs,  but  banker  out  the  wits." 

Lovers  Labors  Lost. 

No  one  is  ignorant  that  an  increased  portion  of  animal  food 
is  often  prescribed  in  disease,  as  is  asserted,  with  great  success. 
I  have  already  remarked  upon  what  I  deem  this  great  abuse, 
and  the  fallacy  by  which  it  is  commonly  supported.  I  shall 
defer  what  I  have  to  say  of  its  alleged  use  in  scrofula  to  another 
part  of  these  papers ;  and  shall  here  content  myself  with  some 
observations  on  its  supposed  utility  in  diabetes,  and  one  or  two 
other  cursory  observations. 

The  treatment  of  this  disease  by  a  rigid  abstinence  from 
vegetables  is  said  to  have  been  first  suggested  by  Dr.  Home ; 
but  the  practice  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Rollo,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  Cruikshank,  at  Greenwich  Hospital,  about  the  year 
1796.  Dr.  Rollo  professed  to  have  cured  one  case  by  tliis 
method,  but  in  a  second  of  longer  standing  he  failed.  Hov/- 
ever,  the  practice  was  for  a  time  universally  imitated,  and  vari- 
ous examples  of  its  efficacy  have  been  given.  Many  examples 
of  its  failure  have  also  occurred.  The  method  of  treatment  has 
been  extolled  by  some  as  a  most  important  discovery.  One  of 
Dr.  Rollo's  friends  pronounced  it  to  be  "  another  triumph  to 
the  pneumatic  physicians,  which  blends  with  it  relief  to  human 
misery  hitherto  incurable."  Dr.  Latham  has  also  spoken  of  it 
in  his  treatise  on  diabetes,  in  language  equally  warm. 

It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  various  examples  of  this 
disease  being  cured  or  subsiding  spontaneously  have  been  re- 
lated by  medical  writers ;  and  the  methods  employed  have 
been  occasionally  the  very  opposite  to  this  used  by  Dr.  Rollo. 
Willis,  who  was  the  first  that  observed  the  sweetness  of  the  urine 
in  this  disease,  relates  the  case  of  the  nobleman  Avho  recovered 
from  it  two  or  three  times  by  a  milk  diet,  and  the  use  of  some 


86  VEGETABLE    DIET 

simple  remedies.  And  as  the  disease  has  occasionally  disap- 
peared under  different  modes  of  treatment,  several  different 
remedies  have  had  the  credit  of  making  cures.  Very  lately, 
Dr.  Warren  has  used  opium  in  pretty  large  doses  and  with 
seeming  success.  Hence  it  is  clear  that  no  judgment  can  be 
formed  of  the  real  efficacy  of  the  practice,  of  the  number  of 
patients  really  cured,  from  solitary  examples  of  success. 

So  little  are  the  minds  of  medical  practitioners  made  up  with 
regard  to  the  general  utility  of  this  practice,  that  Dr.  Watt  has 
still  more  recently  proposed  to  treat  this  diseaiie  by  a  method 
exactly  opposite  to  Dr.  Rollo's,  upon  the  alleged  ground  of 
experience,  and  has  gained  much  celebrity  by  the  work  he 
published.  His  practice  too  has  been  imitated  in  some  of  the 
London  hospitals  ;  I  cannot  say  with  what  success.  But  that 
it  has  been  imitated  is  proof  enough  of  the  unsettled  state  of 
opinion  with  regard  to  the  best  mode  of  treating  this  disease. 
It  has  been  asserted  (I  cannot  say  at  present  by  whom),  that 
in  several  cases  in  which  apparent  cures  have  been  made,  the 
patients  died  soon  afterward  of  inflammatory  diseases  ;  a  result 
which  I  think  highly  probable. 

Those  patients  who  have  perfectly  recovered  have  afterward 
resumed  the  use  of  vegetable  food  without  injury.  Hence  it 
must  ever  remain  doubtful  what  share  the  temporary,  and  for 
the  most  part  imperfect  relinquishment  of  vegetables  for  a 
month  or  two  (I  believe  more  than  this  has  been  rarely  done) 
had  in  the  cure.* 

^any  afflicted  with  diabetes  are  at  the  same  time  deeply 
consumptive.  The  second  patient  treated  by  Dr.  Warren  was 
so,  and,  shortly  after  the  apparent  cure  of  the  diabetes,  died 
consumptive.  Now  it  will  not  be  disputed  that  for  the  con- 
sumptive symptoms  a  vegetable  diet,  or,  at  least,  a  vegetable 
and  milk  diet,  is  the  most  proper.  Here,  then,  we  are  arrived 
at  a  practical  reductio  ad  absurdum ;  we  ought  to  give  the 
meat  for  the  diabetes,  and  to  forbid  it  for  the  consumption. 
Principles  which  lead  to  such  incongruities  can,  I  suspect,  be 
never  founded  in  nature. 

Still  I  think  it  must  be  conceded  to  Dr.  Rollo  and  his  imita- 
tors, that  as  far  as  diminishing  the  flow  of  urine  and  destroy- 

*  In  the  Medical  and  Physical  Journal  for  August,  1814,  is  a  case  of 
diabotee  mellitus  cured  by  animal  diet,  which  wm  said  to  have  been 
adhered  to  nine  months.  But  the  patient  was  not  under  the  eye  of  the 
medical  attendants,  and  therefore  it  is  at  least  doubtful  whether  it  was 
really  observed  as  strictly  as  they  imagined.  It  is  very  diflBcult  to  con- 
fine patients  to  vegetables ;  bat  it  appears  to  be  still  more  so  to  restrain 
them  from  them  altogether. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  87 

mg  the  formation  of  sugar  goes,  the  practice  recommended 
is  very,  if  not  completely,  successful.  From  these  experi- 
ments it  appears  to  follow,  that  the  pabulum  of  these  symp- 
toms of  the  disease  is  furnished  exclusively  by  the  vegetable 
matter  taken  into  the  stomach,  and  that  the  use  of  animal 
matter  checks  the  flow  of  urine,  and  gives  it  alkalescent  quali- 
ties. But  though  these  facts  are  conceded,  it  does  not  follow- 
that  the  effecting  these  changes  is  doing  more  than  conquering 
symptoms,  whether  to  the  benefit  or  to  the  detriment  of  the 
constitution  is  undecided. 

The  different  effects  of  vegetable  and  of  animal  food  upon 
the  urine  are  facts  of  great  importance,  and  the  consequences 
ought  to  be  duly  weighed.  In  confirmation  of  the  conclusions 
of  Dr.  Rollo,  I  must  assert,  that,  upon  vegetable  food,  I  have 
observed  the  urine  to  become  at  least  double  in  quantity  to 
what  it  had  been  upon  a  mixed  diet ;  and  this  happened  con- 
tinuously for  two  or  three  years,  or  more,  in  a  subject  in  whom 
there  was  no  thirst,  and  whose  daily  consumption  of  liquids 
was  less  than  half  a  pint.  I  have  in  many  others  made  cor- 
responding observations.  From  hence  I  have  been  instructed, 
that  it  is  the  vegetable  matter  used,  which  principally  supplies 
the  urine ;  that  the  urine  will  be  abundant,  with  a  copious  use 
of  vegetables  ;  and  that  there  is  no  necessary  proportion  be- 
tween the  quantity  of  urine  and  the  liquid  ingesta.  If,  there- 
fore, we  wish  to  check  the  flow  of  urine,  the  most  effectual 
means  would  be  to  imitate  the  practice  of  Dr.  Rollo,  to  prohi- 
bit vegetable  matter  of  every  kind,  and  confine  the  patient 
"wholly  to  animal  food. 

Now  this  is  the  practice,  which,  in  dropsical  cases,  is,  in  a 
certain  degree,  universally  followed.  We  say  that  dropsy  is  a 
disease  of  weakness,  and  requires  animal  food,  in  order,  God 
willing,  to  support  the  strength.  But  in  general  dropsy  the 
urine  is  likewise  scanty,  which  we  commonly  in  vain  attempt 
to  remedy  by  diuretic  medicines.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  second 
reductio  ad  absurdum.  Vegetable  food  is  requisite  to  increase 
the  urine,  and  animal  food  to  support  the  strength  ;  into  such 
strange  inconsistencies  and  absurdities  do  our  practices  and  opin- 
ions lead  us ! 

Vegetable  food  in  many  dyspeptic  persons  gives  pain  of  the 
stomach.  On  this  account  it  is  customary  to  restrict  or  forbid 
its  use  to  such  persons.  It  may  be  well  for  those,  who  recom- 
mend this  practice,  to  consider  the  following  fact;^,  related  by  a 
writer  who  thought  it  reasonable  and  proper.     This  writer  says  : 

"  I  knew  a  lady  so  miserablj  'ifilicted  with  these  painful  affec- 


83  VEGETABLE    DIET 

tions  of  the  stomach,  that  she  was  often  under  the  necessity  of 
giving  up  every  kind  of  vegetable  food  ;  even  the  best  fer- 
mented bread  became  uneasy ;  so  much  so  that  her  diet  has 
been  for  weeks  solely  of  an  animal  nature.  I  saw  her  once 
luider  these  circumstances,  when  she  had  many  symptoms  of 
the  scurvy,  such  as  spongy  gums,  livid  spots  on  her  arms  and 
legs,  etc.  At  this  time  she  lost  one  or  two  of  her  teeth  ;  but 
the  indigestion  wore  off,  and  she  ate  pot  herbs  for  some  time 
without  any  inconvenience." — Potter,  on  Scurvy,  p.  36. 

We  see,  then,  that  though  this  lady  suffered  less  pain  of  the 
stomach  from  animal  food,  the  abstaining  from  vegetables  still 
injured  the  system,  and  produced  deep  iscorbutic  symptoms. 
It  is,  therefore,  highly  probable,  that  this  lady  lost  more  than 
she  gained  by  the  plan  she  pursued ;  and  that  it  would  have 
been  better  for  her  to  have  suffered  the  pain,  than  to  have  pur- 
chased ease  in  the  manner  she  did. 

It  has  been  said,  that  the  great  fondness  that  men  have  for 
animal  food  is  proof  enough  that  nature  intended  them  to  eat 
it ;  as  if  men  were  not  fond  of  wine,  ardent  spirits,  and  other 
things,  which  cut  short  their  days  ;  as  if  the  Russians  were  not 
fond  of  tallow  ;  the  Esquimaux  of  train  oil ;  and  savages  (I 
might  say,  perhaps,  some  of  our  own  vulgar)  of  blood,  entrails, 
and  all  sorts  of  garbage,  the  thoughts  of  which  sicken  a  civi- 
lized man.  The  raw  and  almost  putrid  flesh  of  the  seal  is  the 
delight  of  the  Pesserais  of  the  Tierra  del  Fuego  ;  and  of  this 
the  rank  fat  is  to  their  taste  the  most  dchcious  part. 

But  those  who  think  that  a  simple  declaration  o^  their  liking 
a  thing  is  a  sufficient  apology  for  the  use  of  it,  I  would  beg  to 
consider  whether  it  is  not  an  argument  that  proves  a  great  deal 
too  much.  A  savage  has  been  seen  to  gnaw  a  bone  of  a  human 
body  with  just  as  much  relish  as  we  suck  a  bone  of  mutton. 
Forster  says,  "  In  the  province  of  Matto-grosso,  in  Brazil,  a  wo- 
man told  his  excellency,  Chevalier  Pinto,  who  was  then  gover- 
nor, that  human  flesh  was  extremely  palatable,  especially  if 
taken  from  a  young  person.  And  during  the  last  dearth  in 
Germany,  a  shepherd  killed  first  a  young  person,  to  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  hunger  with  his  flesh,  and  afterward  several  more, 
in  order  to  please  his  luxurious  palate."  Man's  flesh,  then,  is 
as  good  as  the  flesh  of  the  ox  or  the  hog  ;  and  the  assertion  of 
Swift,  on  which  he  has  grounded  his  "  Modest  proposal  for  pre- 
venting the  children  of  poor  people  in  Ireland  from  being  a 
burden  to  their  parents  or  country,"  is  not  only  groundless, 
viz.,  "  that  a  young  healthy  child,  well  nursed,  is  at  a  year  old 
a  most   delicious,  nourishing,  and    wholesome  food,  whether 


IN    CHliONIC    DISEASES.  89 

stewed,  roasted,  baked,  or  boiled."  Some  animals  devour  their 
own  oflspring ;  and  if  we  do  not  the  same,  it  is  not  because 
their  flesh  would  be  disgustful  to  the  palate. 

Whether,  therefore,  the  taste  of  animal  food  be  naturally 
pleasing  to  the  organs  of  man,  or  not,  is  what  I  am  wholly- 
ignorant  of.  .  But  it  is  certain  that  our  having  contracted  a 
liking  for  it  is  no  proof  of  the  aflirmative ;  no,  not  if  there  are 
infants  who  like  it,  as  soon  as  they  see  the  ligiit.  Infants  bring 
with  them  into  the  world  the  morbid  constitutions  and  morbid 
appetites  of  their  parents.  The  flexibility  of  our  organs,  by 
wliich  we  contract  a  fondness  for  things  indifferent  and  oflen- 
sive  is,  however,  a  quality  highly  useful,  and,  indeed,  the 
source  of  much  of  our  happiness.  Men,  in  consequence,  be- 
come attached  to  what  is  within  their  reach,  and  to  that  to 
which  they  are  habituated ;  but  not  so  much  but  that  they 
have  the  power  to  change,  if  the  circumstances  of  life  render 
it  necessary.  But  th's  blessing,  like  every  other,  may,  by  its 
abuse,  be  converted  into  a  curse. 

Wretched  are  they  who  are  so  much  enslaved  to  habit  that 
they  find  it  impossible  to  change.  But  there  are  an  abundance 
of  these  wretched  beings  who  would  rather  renounce  their  lives 
than  forego  a  momentary  gratification.  Nothing  is  more  com- 
mon in  this  very  article  of  eating.  And  yet  so  artificial  is  the 
relish  we  have  contracted  for  our  food,  that  even  in  European 
countries  we  may  find  those  who  cannot  bear  what  Englishmen 
are  the  most  fond  of.  Mr.  Hooker  has  related  a  curious  in- 
stance of  this  strength  of  habit.  In  his  journey  through  Ice- 
land, a  beggar  accompanied  him  on  his  way.  Observing  the 
miserable  condition  of  this  poor  creature,  he  offered  him  some 
food.  But  he  says,  *'  I  was  extremely  surprised  and  mortified 
to  find  that  this  wretclied  being,  who  could  scarcely  crawl  along, 
but  who  kept  company  with  us  some  way  on  one  of  our  relay 
horses,  was  not  able  to  eat  a  morsel  of  the  ship  bread  and  meat 
which  I  gave  him,  so  accustomed  had  he  been  to  a  milk  and 
fish  diet,  and  such  a  stranger  was  he  to  any  kind  of  food  essen- 
tially different  both  in  flavor  and  hardness." 

Eo.mus  quo  ducit  gula,  was  the  answer  of  a  very  worthy 
friend  of  my  own,  whom  I  i-n  vain  exhorted  to  change  his  regi- 
men. And  it  led  him  where  he  was  evidently  tending,  but  not 
very  fast,  when  the  advice  was  given — to  the  grave. 

My  reason  for  objecting  to  every  species  of  matter  to  be  used 
as  food,  except  the  direct  produce  of  the  earth,  is  founded — as 
may  be  seen  in  my  last  publication — on  the  broad  ground  that 
no  other  matter  is  suited  to  the  organs  of  man,  as  indicated  by 


90  VEGETABLE    DIET 

his  structure.  This  applies  then  with  the  same  force  to  eggs, 
milk,  cheese,  and  fish,  as  to  flesh  meat.  The  different  salubrity 
of  each  article  ought  to  be  estimated  by  the  different  degrees 
of  longevity  enjoyed  by  persons,  as  far  as  it  is  influenced  by 
diet.  But  to  obtain  any  thing  approaching  to  correct  calcula- 
tion on  such  subjects  is  obviously  impracticable.  ,As  far,  how- 
ever, as  I  can  form  a  judgment  fiom  a  few  facts  picked  up  in 
the  course  of  desultory  reading,  fish  is  the  sort  of  food  which, 
if  made  the  principal  article  of  sustenance,  is  the  most  unfavor- 
able to  health  and  longevity. 

Fish  is  a  kind  of  diet  which  the  bulk  of  the  people,  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  other  food,  never  use  voluntarily  as  a  chief 
article  of  sustenance.  Servants,  where  fish  is  cheap,  bargain 
that  they  shall  not  be  forced  to  eat  it  more  than  once  or  twice 
a  week.  But  it  is  for  the  most  part  with  us  scarce  and  dear, 
hence  it  is  a  favorite  with  the  rich,  who  like  whatever  is  of  high 
price.  But  even  with  them  it  is  the  cookery  which  gives  it  its 
principal  relish. 

Dr.  Cheyne  says  of  fish,  "  'Tis  always  observable  that  those 
who  live  much  on  fish  are  affected  with  scurvy,  cutaneous  erup- 
tions, and  the  other  diseases  of  a  foul  blood.  And  every  body 
finds  himself  more  thirsty  and  heavy  than  usual  after  a  firil  meal 
of  fish,  let  them  be  ever  so  fresh,  and  is  forced  to  have  recourse 
to  spirits  and  distilled  liquors  to  carry  them  off.  So  that  it  is 
become  a  proverb  among  those  that  live  much  upon  them,  that 
brandy  is  Latin  for  fish.  Besides  that,  after  a  full  meal  of  fish, 
even  at  noon,  one  never  sleeps  so  sound  the  ensuing  evening,  as 
is  certain  from  constant  observation." 

These  are  not  random  and  unfounded  remarks,  but  are  con- 
formable to  many  authentic  observations.  Fish  does  not  impart 
the  strength  of  animal  food,  but  it  is  as  oppressive  to  the  stom- 
ach as  flesh,  and  it  is  more  putrescent,  as  may  be  concluded 
from  the  nauseous  and  hepatic  eructations  of  the  stomach  after 
it  has  been  eaten. 

I  have  already  noticed  (p.  59)  the  disappearance  of  incurable 
cutaneous  diseases,  in  the  isle  of  Ferro,  by  the  substitution  of 
agriculture  to  fishing.  In  Iceland  the  same  diseases  have  taken 
deep  root,  doubtless  from  the  same  cause,  fish  being  a  principal 
part  of  the  sustenance  of  the  inhabitants.  The  following  is  an 
extract  from  Van  Troil's  letters,  illustrative  of  this  point : 

"  You  may  ask,  sir,  hoAv  this  disease  (the  elephantiasis)  came 
to  be  so  firmly  rooted  in  Iceland,  as  it  has  so  decreased  in  the 
south,  that  it  has  almost  disappeared  there?  I  believe  that 
this  is  not  so  much  owing  to  the  climate  as  to  the  manner  of 


IN     CHRONIC    DISEASES.  9i 

life  and  diet.  People,  wiiose  co!itiimal  occupation  is  fishing, 
are  night  and  day  exposed  to  Avet  and  cold,  frequently  feed 
upon  corrupted  rotten  fish,  fish  livers  and  roes,  fat  and  train  of 
whales,  nnd  sea  dogs,  as  hkewise  congealed  and  sour  milk.  They 
commonly  wear  wet  clothes,  and  are  exposed  to  all  the  hard- 
ships of  poverty.  The  greater  number  of  these  are  therefore 
to  be  met  with  in  the  lower  class ;  on  the  contrary-,  where  less 
fish  and  sour  whey  are  eaten,  and  more  Icelandic  moss  (Lichen 
Islandicus),  and  other  vegetables,  this  disease  is  not  so  preva- 
lent, according  to  an  observation  made  by  Mr.  Paterson  in  the 
above-mentioned  transactions." — Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Swedish  Academy  of  Sciences. 

The  recent  testimony  of  Mr.  Hooker  is  to  the  same  effect. 
He  says,  "  The  Icelanders  in  general  do  not  attain  to  an  ad- 
vanced period  of  life,  though  many  live  to  the  age  of  seventy, 
and  enjoy  a  good  state  of  health ;  but  this  is  among  the  higher 
class  of  people.  Scurvy,  leprosy,  and  elephantiasis  are  no  where 
perhaps  more  prevalent;  and  they  are  likewise,  according  to 
Van  Troil,  peculiarly  afflicted  with  St.  Anthony's  Fire,  the 
jaundice,  pleurisy,  and  lowness  of  spirits."  In  another  passage 
he  testifies  "  that  the  elephantiasis  is  cured  by  the  use  of  anti- 
scorbutic vegetables," 

A  vulgar  notion  has  been  prevalent,  that  a  fish  diet  is  favor- 
able to  the  powers  of  generation,  and  that  persons  living  on  it 
are  more  than  commonly  prolific.  But  this  opinion  appears  to 
be  wholly  erroneous.  On  the  contrary,  among  such  persons  the 
increase  of  the  race  is  very  small.  Forster  says,  "  In  Greenland 
and  among  the  Esquimaux,  where  the  natives  live  chiefly  upon 
fish,  seals,  and  oily  animal  substances,  the  women  seldom  bear 
children  oftener  than  three  or  four  times ;  five  or  six  births  are 
reckoned  a  very  extraordinary  instance.  The  Pesserais,  whom 
we  saw,  had  not  above  two  or  three  children  belonging  to  each 
family,  though  their  common  food  consisted  of  muscles,  fish, 
and  seal  flesh.  The  New  Zealanders  absolutely  feed  on  fish,* 
and  yet  no  more  than  three  or  four  children  were  found  in  the 
most  prolific  families ;  which  seems  strongly  to  indicate  that 
feeding  on  fish  by  no  means  contributes  to  the  increase  of  num- 
bers in  a  nation." 

Our  knowledge  of  the  average  length  of  life,  to  which  the 
fish-eating  tribes  of  mankind  arrive,  is  necessarily  scanty,  they 
not  being  numerous,  and  of  a  very  low  degree  of  civilization. 

*  The  writer  must  mean  that  it  is  the  only  animal  food  (if  I  may  so 
epeak)  they  use.  We  know  that  they  eat  the  roots  of  ferns,  and  are  not 
wholly  ignorant  of  agriculture. 


92  VEGETABLE    D  KT 

But  as  far  as  our  inforniation  readies,  it  tends  to  show  that  this 
period  is  very  short,  I  shall  bring  forward  two  distinct  evi- 
dences for  this  conckision,  of  which  the  coincidence  of  the  testi- 
mony is  very  remarkable. 

The  first  is  that  of  Captain  Cook,  who  informs  us  that  at  Ona- 
lashka  (an  island  on  the  north-west  coast  of  America),  fish 
forms  a  principal  part  of  the  food  of  the  inhabitants.  They 
dry  large  quantities  of  it  in  summer,  which  they  store  in  small 
huts  for  their  winter  stock.  Of  these  people  this  very  saga- 
cious observer  remarks  :  "  They  do  not  seem  to  be  long-lived. 
I  nowhere  saw  a  person,  man  or  woman,  whom  I  could  sup- 
pose to  be  sixty  years  of  age,  and  but  very  few  who  appeared 
to  be  above  fifty." 

An  account  given  by  Bruce  of  the  length  of  life  of  the  injiab- 
itants  of  the  largest  island  of  the  Red  Sea  entirely  correspohds 
with  this.  He  says,  "At  Dalahac,  the  sustenance  of  the  poorer 
sort  is  entirely  shell  and  other  fish"  (they  have  also  a  good 
deal  of  goats'  milk,  and  some  millet,  but  no  bread).  "  I  could 
not  observe  a  man  among  them  that  seemed  to  be  sixty  years 
old." 

These  observations  are  the  more  worthy  of  notice,  as  being 
made  in  very  different  latitudes ;  and  as  there  are  few  places 
indeed  so  imhappily  circumstanced,  as  not  to  possess  a  few 
with  constitutions  strong  enough  to  carry  them  to  four-score. 
They  are,  in  general,  conformable  to  a  remark  of  Friar  Bacon, 
who  says,  "  Bread  yields  a  moisture  safer  from  destruction  than 
flesh,  and  flesh  produces  a  moisture  more  removed  from  cor- 
ruption than  fish."  Facts  such  as  these  should  be  well  weighed 
by  those  who  institute  and  support  societies  for  supplying  the 
poor  with  fish,  and  those  who  are  so  anxious  to  promote  the 
fisheries  at  the  expense  of  agriculture.  For  it  is  to  be  observ- 
ed that  they  cannot  both  prosper  in  the  same  places ;  the  oc- 
cupation of  fishing  being  most  lucrative  and  secure  at  the 
season  when  the  husbandman  ought  to  be  most  busy. 

Of  all  the  other  substances  which  enter  largely  into  human 
diet,  the  milk  of  herbivorous  animals  is,  probably,  that  which 
approaches  most  nearly  in  salubrity  to  pure  vegetable  matter. 
Being  secreted  almost  immediately  after  taking  in  food  (as 
nurses  constantly  experience),  it  partakes  the  most  of  the  pro- 
perties of  the  food.  Accordingl}'-,  we  find  that  milk  is  im- 
pregnated with  a  saccharine  substance,  and  that  it  is  suscepti- 
ble of  the  vinous  and  acetous  fermentations.  Hence  milk  is  in 
part  vegetable  food  ;  and  as  such,  is  used  by  all  pastoral  na- 
tions, and  serves  in  a  measure  as  a  substitute  for  it.     The  Brit- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  93 

ish  aborigines  of  our  own  island  were  in  this  condition,  living, 
as  Caesar  has  informed  us,  upon  milk  and  flesh. 

Many  have  been  sustained  by  milk  alone,  even  for  a  series  of 
years ;  and  have  avoided  some  of  the  sufferings  which  they 
had  experienced  when  eating  flesh.  I  cannot  doubt,  there- 
fore, that  to  those  who  can  submit  to  such  a  course,  it  would 
prove  more  salubrious  than  a  diet  of  animal  food,  and,  pro- 
bably, such  persons  would  lengthen  their  Hves  by  this  practice. 

But  independent  of  the  irksomcness  and  disgust  which  have 
been  commonly  experienced  from  milk,  when  used  abundantly, 
it  seems  to  me  highly  unphilosophical  to  suppose  that  there 
can  be  any  substitute  ever  discovered  for  natural  diet.  There 
are  some  gases  which  approach  ver}^  nearl}^  in  their  constitu- 
ent principles  to  atmospheric  air.  But  we  do  not  find  it  pos- 
sible to  use  any  gas  as  a  substitute  for  common  air,  consistently 
with  health.  We  cannot  even  add  to  or  diminish  from  the  con- 
stituents of  common  air,  without  rendering  it  less  fitted  for 
respiration.  Why  then  should  we  fancy  that  we  may  yield  to 
any  caprice  or  fancy  with  regard  to  our  food ;  and  that  any 
substance  whatever,  which  the  juices  of  the  stomach  can  dis- 
solve, is  equally  wholesome  ;  or  that,  because  the  milk  of  a  cow 
aftbrds  the  best  possible  nourishment  to  a  calf,  it  is  therefore 
the  substance  of  all  others  the  best  suited  to  a  child  ? 

For  milk,  besides  its  saccharine  and  fermentable  principles, 
contains  a  coagulabie  matter,  the  curd  or  cheese,  which  is  more 
perfectly  animalized,  and  which  is  very  nearly  allied  to  the  al- 
buminous matter  of  animal  bodies.  Hence  the  operation  of 
milk  upon  the  system  is  in  part  the  same  as  that  of  animal 
food,  though  it  is  less  powerful  in  degree.  It  at  first  fattens 
and  heightens  the  color.  It  therefore  possesses  a  degree  of 
the  stimulating  power  of  animal  food,  and  must  ev^entually  have 
similar  results.  But  milk,  moreover,  in  many  habits  excites 
headache,  thirst,  weight,  and  oppression  at  the  stomach ;  and 
in  those  who  have  tried  to  make  it  the  principal  part  of  their 
sustenance,  the  attempt  has  commonly  caused  an  almost  insu- 
perable disgust.  This,  I  have  little  doubt,  is  the  true  reason 
why  such  an  experiment  is  now  so  rarely  made.  It  affords 
sufficient  ground  for  thinking  that  milk  ought  to  be  excluded, 
as  much  as  possible,  from  the  diet  of  persons  to  whom  a  strict 
adherence  to  regimen  is  necessary. 

We  give  it  indeed  to  our  children,  and  this  is  so  customary 
that  I  have  heard  it  exclaimed  against  as  a  perfect  act  of  inhu- 
manity to  deny  it  them.  But  I  cannot  find  that  children  from 
whom  it  is  withheld  at  all  regret  or  suffer  from  the  want  of 


94  VEGETABLE    DIET 

it.  The  whole  immense  population  of  China  is  brought  up ;  and 
the  use  of  milk  is  hardly  known  throughout  this  vast  empire. 

If  Ave  consider  pure  nature,  we  must  acknowledge  that  our 
food  ought  to  be  of  such  a  kind  as  to  require  mastication,  at 
least  as  soon  as  we  are  furnished  with  teeth.  This  considera- 
tion alone  is  enough  to  make  us  suspect  that  milk  cannot  be 
strictly  proper  nor  perfectly  suitable  to  the  human  constitu- 
tion. We  are  always  complaining  of  the  trouble  our  teeth 
give  us.  But  from  our  practices  we  appear  to  regard  them 
as  useless  and  superfluous. 

Some,  from  whom  I  expected  more  correct  reasoning,  have 
aigued  from  this  custom  of  giving  milk  to  children,  and  even  to 
infants,  without  apparent  detriment,  that  it  therefore  must  be  per- 
fectly innoxious  But  in  this  whole  discourse  we  are  inquiring, 
not  what  the  healthy  may  do  with  impunity,  but  what  is  most 
proper  for  the  diseased,  in  order  to  restore  their  health  or  palliate 
their  sufferings.  Now  I  see  no  reason  why  milk  should  be 
reckoned  perfectly  innocent,  because  we  give  it  to  children,  or 
why  a  healthy  child  may  not  bear  deviation  from  the  most  nat- 
ural and  proper  food  with  as  much,  or  even  with  greater, 
safety  than  a  healthy  adult.  In  such  a  child,  though  the  bodily 
strength  is  feeble,  the  vital  powers  are  strong,  and  indeed  they 
must  frequently  be  much  stronger  in  the  child  than  in  the  full- 
grown  man.  It  cannot  be  but  a  child,  which  may  have  four- 
score years  of  life  remaining  to  it,  must  be  vitally  stronger  than 
an  adult  who  may  have  nearly  finished  his  race  of  life ;  it  may 
be  expected  to  bear  injuries  better,  and  in  fact  it  commonly 
does  so.  But  with  regard  to  the  question  before  us,  it  is  very 
common  for  children  to  die  whose  principal  substance  has  been 
milk.  From  the  custom  of  feeding  children  with  it,  then,  we 
can  infer  nothing  with  regard  to  its  salubrity. 

Milk  eating  and  flesh  eating  are  but  branches  of  a  common 
s}stem,  and  they  must  stand  or  fall  together.  If  tliere  wei-e 
no  demand  for  the  lesh  of  the  animal,  the  milk  would  not  even 
be  produced.  The  zeal  question,  taken  in  the  widest  extent,  is, 
whether  the  agricultural  system  ought  not  wholly  to  supersede 
the  pastoral  system,  as  in  countries  increasing  in  population  it 
is  constantly  doing  in  some  degree.  Nature  herself,  that  is  to 
say,  the  productive  power  of  the  soil,  has  confined  the  possi- 
bility of  maintaining  the  domestic  animals  within  such  strait 
limits,  that  an  abundant  population  cannot  be  supplied,  from 
its  own  soil,*  with  a  daily  moderate  portion  either  of  flesh  or  of 

*  The  country  Laplanders  (for  there  are  fishing  tribes  of  the  same  race) 
present  us  with  the  most  perfect  example  of  p.^'storal  manners.     They 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES'  95 

milk;  much  less  can  it  feed  tliem  upon  tL.se  substances.  It 
is  said  to  have  been  the  wish  of  the  fourth  Henry,  that  eveiy 
peasant  of  France  should  have  his  poulet  dans  Ic  pot.  But  this 
was  a  dream  of  benevolence,  to  the  realization  of  which  nature 
has  placed  an  insuperable  barrier.  Search  the  world  through, 
and  an  example  cannot  be  found  of  a  large  society  living  upon 
flesh,  the  produce  of  its  own  soil.  The  same  may  also  be  said 
of  milk.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  are  monopolized,  as  it 
were,  by  those  members  of  the  community  who  possess  some 
superfluous  property.  But  this  order  of  men  will  ever  struggle 
in  vain  to  draw  a  line  of  demarkation  between  themselves,  and 
their  fellow-men,  and  to  raise  themselves,  as  it  were,  above  the 
common  lot  of  humanity.  Nature  disdains  our  artificial  distinc- 
tions, and  views  all  her  ofi'spring  with  the  same  parental  eye. 
Can,  indeed,  any  notion  be  so  irrational,  so  monstrous,  as  to 
suppose  that  a  Creator  has  formed  myriads  of  human  beings, 
perfect  in  strength  and  intellect,  and  at  the  same  time  has  made 
it  impossible  for  them  to  provide  what  is  necessary  to  the  pres- 
ervation of  animal  hfe  ?  We  may  safely  conclude  then,  that 
what  is  not  necessary  cannot  be  natural ;  it  is  easy  to  go  one 
step  further,  and  say,  what  is  not  natural  cannot  be  useful. 

I  shall  in  this  place  introduce  a  few  words  on  the  question  of 
how  far  artificial  preparation  of  all  our  vegetable  food  is  neces- 
sary or  useful.  That  many  sorts  are  really  improved  by 
cookery  admits  of  no  question ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whe- 
ther by  indiscriminately  macerating  every  thing  as  we  do,  we 
do  not  often  injure  the  substance  we  operate  upon,  instead  of 
improving  it.  With  us,  a  parent  will  correct  his  child  for  eat- 
ing a  raw  turnip,  as  if  it  were  poisonous.  But  the  Russians, 
from  the  lowest  peasant  to  the  highest  nobleman,  are,  accord- 
have  small  quantities  of  meal,  supplied  by  commerce,  and  eat  such  vege- 
table matter  as  their  country  spontaneously  produces,  particularly  the 
angelica,  which  is  their  great  delight.  But  the  far  greater  part  of  their 
sustenance  is  from  the  flesh  and  milk  of  the  rein-deer.  The  wealth  of  the 
Laplander  is  estimated  by  the  number  of  rein-deer  which  he  possesses. 
Of  the  number  of  these  animals  necessary  to  a  family  we  have  from  a  late 
traveler  the  following  account :  "  We  had  yet  seen  no  herd  under  300. 
With  this  number  a  family  is  said  to  be  in  moderate  prosperity.  It  can 
be  maintained.  They  can  afford  to  kill  as  many  rein-deer  as  are  neces- 
sary for  fond  and  clothing,  shoes  and  boots,  and  to  sell  besides  a  few 
rein-deer  skins,  hides,  and  hoi-ns  to  the  merchant  for  meal,  or  brandy,  or 
woolen  stuffs.  On  the  other  hand,  a  family  lives  very  miserably  on  a 
hundred  of  these  animals,  and  can  hardly  keep  from  starving."  (Von 
Buch's  Travels  through  Norway  and  Lapland,  p.  322.)  We  see,  then 
what  a  space  of  ground  each  Lapland  family  must  occupy,  and  how  impoo* 
sible  it  is  that  a  country  upon  such  a  system  car  become  populoua. 


96  VEGETABLK    DIET 

ing  to  Clarke,  eating  raw  turnips  all  day  long.  We  may  be 
certain  then,  that  there  is  no  harm  in  the  practice. 

But  further,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  particularly 
from  the  observations  of  the  navigators  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
that  those  races  of  men  who  admit  into  their  nutriment  a  large 
proportion  of  fruit,  and  recent  vegetable  matter,  unchanged  by 
culinary  art,  have  a  form  of  body,  the  largest,  of  the  most  per- 
fect proportion,  and  the  greatest  beauty,  that  they  have  the 
greatest  strength  and  activity,  and  probably  that  they  enjoy 
the  best  health. 

This  fact  alone  is  enough  to  refute  the  vulgar  error  (for  it 
deserves  no  other  name)  that  animal  food  is  necessary  to  sup- 
port the  strength.  It  may  be  necessary  to  those  whom  the 
injustice  or  the  artificial  wants  of  society  have  doomed  to  the 
labor  of  dray-horses.  Even  this  is  doubtful.  But  we  see  that 
almost  the  whole  agricultural  labor  of  the  country  is  performed 
without  it.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  this  species  of 
labor,  nor  to  any  other  whicli  a  man  ought  to  undergo.  The 
same  fact  may  still  prompt  us  further  to  inquire,  whether 
there  is  any  just  foundation  for  the  prejudices  which  are  very 
prevalent  against  the  use  of  fruit,  as  if  there  were  something  in 
it  pernicious  or  dangerous,  and  to  examine  from  whence  these 
prejudices  have  arisen. 

This  notion  of  fruit  being  unwholesome  has  descended  to  us, 
even  from  the  days  of  Galen.  He  has  said,  that  "  All  fruits 
are  of  a  bad  composition,  and  useful  only  to  persons  who  have 
been  exposed  to  great  heat,  or  harassed  by  a  long  journey." 

But  this  same  Galen  has  soon  after  acknowledged  that  fruits 
afford  a  perfect  nourishment ;  in  proof  of  which  he  observed, 
that  the  persons  who  are  set  over  the  vineyards,  and  who  live 
for  a  couple  of  months  upon  nothing  but  figs  and  grapes  (with 
the  addition,  perhaps,  of  a  little  bread)  become  fat.  Dr.  Cleg- 
horn  says  that  this  observation  of  Galen  is  annually  confirmed 
at  Minorca,  it  being  remarkable  that  the  persons  appointed  for 
the  same  purpose  there  commonly  continue  in  good  health, 
though  in  that  season  tertians  usually  rage  with  the  greatest 
violence.  Similar  observations  have  been  made  upon  negroes 
in  the  West  Indies,  who  live  on  the  recently  expressed  juice  of 
tae  sugar  cane;  and  Sir  George  Staunton  says,  "As  in  the 
West  Indies,  so  in  China,  the  people  employed  in  the  fields 
during  this  season"  (the  time  of  pressing  the  sugar  canes) 
"  are  observed  to  get  fat  and  sleek  ;  and  many  of  the  Chinese 
slaves  and  idle  persons  are  frequently  missing  about  the  time 
that  the  canes  become  ripe,  hiding  themselves,  and  living  alto- 
gether in  the  plantations. 


IN    tfinONIC    DISEASES.  97 

The  prejudices  then  entertained  against  fruit  and  recent  un- 
changed vegetable  matter  cannot  be  founded  in  any  just  obser- 
vations, proving  that  they  are  truly  insalubrious,  and  unfit  for 
human  nutriment.  Yet  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  matter  of  this 
kind  excites,  in  many,  great  inconvenience  and  uneasiness.  There 
are  those  to  whom  a  raw  apple  is  an  object  of  terror  almost  as 
great  as  a  pistol  shot.  Numbers  of  people  cannot  bear  a  mor- 
sel of  fruit.  Dean  Swift,  in  several  of  his  letters,  complains 
that  he  could  not  eat  a  bit  of  fruit  without  suffering,  and  de- 
clares how  much  he  envied  persons  whom  he  saw  munching 
peaches,  while  he  durst  not  touch  a  morsel.  Wood,  the 
miller  of  Billericay,  who  set  up  for  a  sort  of  a  doctor,  warned 
people  strongly  against  the  use  of  fruit,  guided,  no  doubt,  by 
a  similar  feeling  of  uneasiness. 

But  we  see  children  glut  themselves,  almost  to  bursting, 
with  fruits,  and  suffering  nothing  from  them  but  a  little  tempo- 
rary uneasiness  from  distention.  We  see,  as  I  have  said,  tribes 
of  people  principally  supported  by  them.  And  from  the  great 
pleasure  which  children  and  young  persons,  whose  stomachs 
are  the  most  healthy,  receive  from  them,  it  seems  probable  that 
fruit,  and  the  produce  of  trees  in  general,  instead  of  being  un- 
wholesome, is  the  sort  of  matter  the  most  suited  to  the  organs 
of  man.  Such  was  the  opinion  of  the  great  naturalist  Linnaeus. 
"  This  species  of  food,"  he  says,  **  is  that  which  is  most  suit- 
able to  man ;  which  is  evinced  by  the  series  of  quadrupeds, 
analogy,  wild  men,  apes,  the  structure  of  the  mouth,  of  the 
stomach,  and  the  hands." 

We  have,  indeed,  annual  accounts  of  persons  killing  them- 
selves by  eating  nuts  or  cherries ;  but  such  relations  probably 
come  from  persons  who  are  little  capable  of  determining  the 
causes  of  death  or  disease.  Upon  a  sudden  seizure,  particu- 
larly of  fatal  illness,  the  last  thing  eaten  commonly  bears  the 
blame.  There  may  be  found  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
a  grave  account,  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  members  of  the 
Royal  Society,  of  a  boy  killed  by  eating  apple  dumphng.  1 
have  never  trembled  on  this  account  when  I  have  had  a  good 
plateful  of  apple  pudding  before  me. 

That  fruit  and  recent  vegetable  matter,  in  general,  is  not 
merely  innoxious,  but  much  more  congenial  to  the  constitution 
than  the  same  matter  which  has  been  changed  by  culinary  pre- 
paration, may  be  further  deduced  from  its  superior  efficHcy  in 
the  cure  of  scurvy.  The  fact  of  the  facility  with  which  this 
disease,  which  has  proved  fatal  to  thousands  of  seamen  and 
others,  may  be  cured,  is  so  fully  established  that  it  is  neediest 
6 


^S  VEGETABLE    DIET 

to  cite  any  proofs  of  it.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  if  the  patient  i» 
not  consumptive,  nor  laboring  under  any  other  chronic  disease^ 
it  will  yield  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  to  the  use  of  fruit,  lemo» 
juice,  antiscorbutic  herbs,  or,  in  short,  of  any  vegetable  mattei 
that  is  wholesome  and  fresh.  Even  raw  potatoes  have  effected 
a  cure.  And  so  speedy  is  the  effect  upon  the  system,  that  the 
color  of  a  scorbutic  ulcer  becomes  improved  and  reddened  in 
twelve  hours  after  the  use  of  lemons.  It  is  not  perhaps  so  well 
known  that  vegetables  which  have  been  submitted  to  the  fire 
are  far  less  efficacious  against  this  disease.  But  this  fact  seems 
perfectly  established.  On  this  point  a  physician  of  the  first 
authority  on  such  subjects  has  these  observations : 

"It  is  certain  that  the  medical  eflects  of  the  native  sweet 
juices  are,  in  other  respects,  very  differei^t  from  what  they  are 
in  their  refined  state ;  for  manna,  wort,  and  the  native  juice  of 
the  sugar  cane  are  purgative,  whereas  sugar  itself  is  not  at  all 
so.  This  affords  a  presumption  that  they  may  be  also  different 
in  their  antiscorbu.tic  quality  ;  and  there  is  reason  to  think,  from 
experience,  that  the  more  natural  the  state  in  which  any  vege- 
table is,  the  greater  is  its  antiscorbutic  quality.  Vegetables  in 
the  form  of  salads  are  more  powerful  than  when  prepared  by 
fire ;  and  I  know  for  certain,  that  the  rob  of  lemons  and  oranges 
is  not  to  be  compared  to  the  fresh  fi-uit.  Raw  potatoes  have 
been  used  with  advantage  in  the  fleet,  particularly  by  Mr.  Smith 
of  the  Triton,  who  made  the  scorbutic  men  etit  them  sUced  with 
vinegar,  with  great  benefit.  This  accords  also  with  what  Dr. 
Mertens,  of  Vienna,  has  lately  communicated  to  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  London." 

It  has  been  observed  by  some  other  writers,  that  it  adds 
much  to  the  suffering  of  the  scorbutic  seaman  when,  from  the 
rotten  state  of  his  teeth,  he  is  unable  to  eat  the  sour  krout  with- 
out boiling,  for  that  the  boiling  very  much  impairs  its  antiscor- 
butic powers. 

But  this  is  not  all.  There  have  been  examples  of  a  deep 
scurvy  appearing  among  persons  whose  diet  was  entirely  vege- 
table. Dr.  Trotter  has  related  an  instance  of  this  in  a  cargo  of 
unfortunate  negroes  in  a  slave  ship,  who  were  fed  upon  beans, 
rice,  and  Indian  corn.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  add,  that  these 
poor  wretches  were  most  diabolically  treated,  being  stowed 
spoonways,  according  to  the  technical  phrase ;  and  some  were 
actually  suffocated  for  want  of  fresh  air. 

These  facts  are  enough  to  show  that  there  is  an  essential  dif- 
ference between  fresh  vegetable  matter  and  the  same  mattei 
j»hanged  by  cookery ;  and  they  make  it  in  a  manner  certam, 


^^  cHiioMc  d:sea3es.  99 

that  in  the  latter  s'  ite  it  is  less  congenial  to  the  human  frame. 
If,  therefore,  in  this  state  it  creates  uneasiness  in  the  stomach, 
it  must  proceed,  not  from  any  noxious  quahty  of  the  vegetable, 
but  from  some  vice  of  the  stomach  itself.  And  it  illustrates 
most  forcibly  how  much  we  may  be  deceived,  by  inferring  any 
thing  concerning  the  good  and  ill  qualities  of  a  substance  from 
its  primary  operation  on  a  morbid  body ;  how  httle,  havmg  de- 
praved our  stomachs  by  the  stimulation  of  an  artificial  system 
of  diet,  we  can  confide  in  the  feelings  conveyed. 

The  internal  coat  of  this  organ  possesses  an  exquisite  sensi- 
bility, if  not  to  all  impressions,  to  those  which  are  peculiarly 
fitted  to  it.  This  sensibihty  appears  to  be  a  species  of  taste, 
very  nearly  like  that  of  the  tongue  or  palate ;  and  our  likings 
and  aversions  may  be  suspected  to  be  caused  by  the  relation 
between  this  membrane  and  the  substances  applied  to  it.  Now 
under  the  common  habits  of  life  we  find  a  slow  but  constant 
change  taking  place  with  regard  to  the  objects  of  liking,  so  that 
gradually  all  the  substances  which  were  most  the  objects  of 
de-sire,  and  afforded  the  highest  pleasure  in  our  early  days,  when 
it  must  be  supposed  that  the  organs  were  tlie  most  healthy,  be- 
come indifi'erent,  if  not  disaorreeable.  All  the  effective  agents 
which  are  applied  to  the  system  may  contribute  to  this  result. 
But  probably  the  stimulating  part  of  our  diet — the  animal  food 
and  fermented  liquors — is  that  which  has  the  most  active  share 
in  its  production. 

In  consequence  of  these  habits,  the  stomach  becomes  more 
and  more  agreeably  affected,  and,  as  it  were,  in  unison  with 
whatever  is  stimulating,  and  which  is  really  warm  or  excites  the 
feelings  of  warmth ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  what  is  cool  or 
what  excites  the  feeling  of  coldness  is  disagreeable  and  uneasy. 
In  this  respect  the  internal  parts  of  the  body,  and  especially 
this  very  sensible  membrane,  is  similar  to  the  external,  which 
may  be  made  so  tender  by  large  fires,  close  rooms,  and  indul- 
gence,  as  not  to  bear  without  pain  the  common  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere.  A  gouty  stomach,  constantly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  wine,  spirits,  rich  sauces,  and  made  dishes,  finds  it 
necessary  for  comfortable  feeling  to  have  the  stimulus  gradually 
heightened ;  weak  wines  are  deficient  in  power ;  it  requires  the 
strongest,  or  even  ardent  spirits,  to  make  it  comfortable ;  and 
every  thing  solid  must  likewise  be  highly  seasoned.  Many  per- 
sons, too,  have  the  stomach  in  this  condition  who  are  not  sub- 
ject to  gout. 

Now  these  are  the  persons  to  whom  vegetables  of  all  kinds 
are  the  most  distasteful  and  insipid,  and,  as  they  think,  from  the 


100  VEGETABLE    DIET 

flatulence  they  excite,  indigestible.  But  fruit,  and  all  vegetable 
matter  unchanged  by  cookery,  are  still  more  opposite  to  this 
condition  of  the  stomach,  for  they  excite  a  sense  of  coldness  in 
the  organ  to  which  nothing  is  agreeable  but  what  is  stimulant 
and  fiery ;  as  they  dissolve  with  more  slowness  than  any  other 
species  of  matter,  they  are  esteemed  the  most  difficult  of  diges- 
tion, and  the  impression  which  they  make  is  more  permanent 
than  that  of  any  other  matter  which  is  used  as  food. 

These  are  the  circumstances  which  appear  to  me  to  make 
fruit  and  recent  vegetables  so  offensive  to  a  number  of  persons, 
and  to  have  i-aised  such  strong  prejudices  against  them  as  if 
they  were  really  pernicious.  That  in  a  multitude  of  persons 
the}''  excite  uneasy  feeling,  and  therefore  appear  to  disagiee,  is 
certain ;  and  those  who  argue  immediately  from  their  feeling 
can  hardly  form  any  other  conclusion.  But  those  who  look  a 
little  below  the  surface  of  things  will  be  less  hasty  in  their  de- 
terminations. They  will  inquire  how  these  uneasy  feelings  are 
generated,  and  what  they  indicate.  They  must  see  that  they 
may  arise  from  a  diseased  condition  of  the  stomach,  as  well  as 
from  any  thing  noxious  in  the  matter  applied  to  it ;  and  if  the 
account  I  have  given  be  just,  such  must  be  the  truth.  This 
will  lead  them  a  step  further,  and  they  will  inquire  whether  by 
breaking  in  upon  the  old  habits,  it  is  not  possible  to  alter  the 
sensations,  and  to  get  rid  of  the  pains  or  uneasiness  by  amend- 
ing the  state  of  the  stomach  itself  ? 

Considerable  experience  has  convinced  me  that  this  is  very 
possible.  I  have  seen  persons  who  have  followed  the  regimen 
I  advise  in  chronic  diseases  regain  their  relish  for  fruit,  and 
indulge  in  it  without  any  detriment  or  inconvenience.  This 
they  could  not  do  under  their  former  mixed  regimen ;  and  it 
abundantly  compensated  for  the  deprivations  they  sustained  in 
other  articles.  A  gentleman  told  me  that  under  this  regimen 
he  can  eat  cherries  in  any  quantity  with  impunity,  which  for- 
merly were  used  to  give  him  considerable  uneasiness. 

If  I  am  right  in  my  account  of  the  source  of  the  uneasiness 
which  many  persons  suffer  from  fruits  and  recent  vegetables, 
it  must  follow  that  it  is  a  gross  absurdity  to  deny  them  to 
children,  young  persons,  or  invalids,  who  have  a  desire  for 
them  and  in  wh©m  they  produce  no  uneasiness.  And  yet  this 
absurdity  is  committed  daily.  Children  are  forbidden  fruit 
who  have  the  greatest  longing  for  it.  If  any  desiic  can  be 
truly  be  said  to  be  natural  and  instinctive,  it  is  this.  As  such 
it  should  always  be  moderately  indulged.  To  act  otherwise  is 
equally  irrational  and  cruel. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  101 

I  hope  not  to  be  so  far  misunderstood  (even  that  has  hap- 
pened) as  if  I  blamed  all  culinary  preparation  of  vegetables. 
But  I  think  that  the  practice  is  carried  to  excess.  It  appears 
to  be  the  general  opinion  that  almost  all  vegetable  matter,  if 
not  previously  submitted  to  the  action  of  heat,  is  absolutely 
indigestible  and  noxious.  But  the  fact  is  that  almost  all  our 
common  garden  vegetables  may  be  used  without  any  such  pre- 
paration ;  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  in  this  natural  condi- 
tion they  would  be  more  nutritive,  more  strengthening,  and  cer- 
tainly far  more  antiscorbutic  than  when  they  have  been  changed 
by  the  fire.  On  this  account  it  is  that  I  think  it  highly  advisable 
that  some  portion  either  of  fruit  or  of*  fresh  vegetable  matter 
should  be  used  daily.  Children,  too,  should  be  encouraged  in 
the  use  of  such  things  instead  of  being  forbid  them,  as  is  the 
common  practice.  If  the  stomach  be  so  much  diseased  that 
nothing  of  this  kind  can  be  borne,  soups  made  with  a  large 
quantity  of  recent  vegetables  may  be  substituted.  They  seem 
to  be  far  preferable  to  vegetables  much  boiled  ;  the  soup  and 
the  vegetables  may  be  eaten  together,  and  are  very  agreeable 
to  the  palate. 

I  have  been  asked  repeatedly,  as  I  recommend  to  the  invalid 
distilled  in  place  of  common  water,  whether  I  think  it  necessary 
to  use  the  same  kind  for  boiling  vegetables.  I  take  this  oppor- 
tunity, therefore,  to  say  that  I  regard  such  nicety  as  needless. 
If  the  matter  to  be  boiled  absorbs  a  large  quantity  of  water, 
as  rice,  this  attention  may  be  right.  In  making  bread  the  same 
attention  should,  if  possible,  be  paid.  But  the  quantity  absorbed 
by  common  culinary  vegetables  is  probably  too  small  to  deserve 
notice.  Those  who  wish  to  be  extremely  exact  may  dress  their 
vegetables  by  steam. '^ 

There  may  be  other  parts  of  our  dietetic  habits  which  it 
would  not  be  improper  to  examine.  The  use  of  tea  and  coffee, 
foi*example,  is  by  many  suspected,  and,  perhaps,  not  without 

*  One  of  the  principal  marks  of  distinction  between  the  face  of  a  negro 
or  the  savage  man,  and  the  European,  is  in  the  form  of  the  face.  The 
negro  has  the  mouth  and  chin  very  prominent,  so  that  a  perpendicular 
line  let  fall  from  the  forehead  cuts  off  a  much  larger  portion  of  the  low^er 
part  of  the  face  in  the  negro  than  in  the  European.  Now  it  seems  very 
clear  that  this  form  of  the  face  is  generated  by  the  use  of  food  requiring 
more  mastication,  consequently  greater  force  of  the  masticating  organs. 
In  consequence,  the  temporal,  massiler,  diagastric,  and  the  other  muscles 
of  mastication  become  habitually  stronger,  the  surface  of  attachment 
enlarged  and  elongated,  and  the  whole  form  of  the  head  and  face  changed 
and  modified  from  these  circumstances.  If  this  position  be  just,  the  form 
of  the  head  and  face,  which  distinguishes  civilized  nations,  is  produced  in 
a  great  measure  by  the  cookery  of  their  food. 


102  VEGETABLE    DIET 

reason.  But  I  abstain  from  subjects  on  which  I  am  conscious 
that  I  have  nothing  of  value  to  offer.  I  shall,  therefore,  con- 
clude with  making  a  single  inquiry  with  regard  to  bread,  which 
I  shall  leave  to  the  determination  of  those  who  are  competent 
to  pronounce  on  such  questions,  and  who  have  proper  oppor- 
tunities of  observations.  What  I  would  ask  is  this,  Is  the 
farina  of  wheat,  or  any  other,  improved  or  injured — is  it  made 
more  or  less  wholesome  by  fermentation  ?  or,  in  other  words, 
which  should  be  preferred,  leavened  or  unleavened  bread? 
The  leaven  or  fermented  bread  sits  lighter  upon  the  stomach ; 
but  this  is  no  proof  that  it  is  really  more  salubrious.  We  know 
very  well  that  the  coarsest  black  bread,  which  is  as  heavy 
almost  as  a  lump  of  dough,  gives  much  nourishment  and 
strength.  A  sensible  writer  says,  that  he  "  has  heard  a  sea- 
faring man  observe  that  he  was  always  sensible  of  a  diminution 
of  muscular  strength  when  he  left  off  the  use  of  biscuit  and  ate 
common  bread."  Hippocrates  has  given  a  corresponding 
testimony.  His  words  are  "Leavened  or  fermented  bread  is 
hghter  in  digestion,  and  passes  easily  through  the  body ;  but 
unfermented  bread  does  not  go  off  so  easily,  though  it  nour- 
ishes more  where  the  stomach  can  bear  it." 

If  these  observations  are  correct,  the  fermenting  of  bread  and 
the  cookery  of  vegetables  are  practices  adopted  by  mankind 
from  the  same  motives ;  they  accommodate  the  matters  to  which 
they  are  applied  to  the  factitious  delicacy  of  our  digesting 
organs,  which  is  effected,  however,  at  some  expense  of  their 
strengthening  and  nutritive  powers. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Noxious  habits  of  slow  operation. — Erroneous  statements. — Vegetable 
food  necessary  to  a  perfect  organization. — It  is  produced  in  all  climatef 
habitable  by  man. — The  natural  progress  of  society. — The  use  of  ani- 
mal food  a  relic  of  barbarous  manners. 

In  ascribing  the  diseases  of  mankind  to  their  situation  and 
habits  of  life,  I  have  commonly  said  that  these  are  to  be  con- 
sidered not  as  their  immediate,  but  as  their  remote  and  ante- 
cedent causes  ;  a  distinction  v/hich  it  is  necessary  carefully  to 
attend  to.  For  it  is  obvious  that  no  habit  whatever,  whether 
it  regard  food  or  drink,  or  situation,  cf.n  possibly  have  been 


IN    CHROx\IC    DISEASES.  103 

received  and  adoptee'  by  an}^  society  of  men  without  its  beino- 
apparently  salubrious  to  the  great  majority  of  the  society. 
Were  it  otherwise,  the  truth  would  become  evident  even  to  the 
rudest  savages ;  and  they  would  accordingly  change  their  habits, 
or  at  least  be  disposed  to  do  so.  But  the  majority  of  the 
society  enjoying  a  portion  of  health  and  comfort,  with  which 
they  are  contented,  the  operation  of  remote  causes  escapes 
observation,  and  men  become  exceedingly  unwilhng  to  connect 
their  sufferings  with  the  things  which  constitute  a  large  portion 
of  their  enjoyments. 

Tlie  example  of  persons  arriving  at  what  is  deemed  extreme 
old  age  still  further  confirms  the  delusion.  How,  it  is  asked, 
can  that  be  pernicious  which  persons  use,  and  v»njoy  good  health, 
perhaps  for  four-score  years  and  upward?  It  is,  indeed,  a 
wonderful  instance  of  the  varieties  of  the  human  constitution. 
But  when  we  see  that  there  are  men  who  use  daily  large  quan- 
tities of  wine  and  ardent  spirits  without  apparent  detrim-ent^' — 
that  they  carry  it  even  to  the  extent  of  daily  intoxication  with 
a  long-continued  impunity — we  must  confess  that  these  facts 
prove  nothing  more  than  this  astonishing  variety.  They  show 
us  that  we  are  really  ignorant  of  what  is  the  natural  duration 
cf  human  life  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  The 
examples  of  extraordinary  ]onge\ity,  which  some  few  individuals 
have  been  known  to  attain,  show  how  much  we  are  in  the  dark 

*  The  late  Dr.  Holyoke,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  lived  to  the  age  100  yeai's. 
He  was  in  the  habit  of  being  temperate  in  all  things.  He  was  a  man  of 
a  most  remarkable  character,  never  tempted  to  excess.  He  used  to 
live  without  much  care,  without  thinking  whether  he  would  do  himself 
harm  or  not.  He  was  very  cheerful,  and  of  a  very  benevolent  heart  and 
easy  conscience,  and  patient  of  little  injuries.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
using  intoxicating  drinks  in  small  quantities.  He  had  a  preparation, 
which  consisted  of  one  table-spoonful  of  .Jamaica  rum  and  one  table- 
epoonful  of  cider,  diluted  with  water,  which  ho  used  after  dinner,  while 
smoking  his  pipe.  I  would  mention,  in  connection  with  this  habit,  that 
he  did  not  die  of  old  age.  I  examined  the  body  myself,  with  very  great 
care  and  attention.  The  heart  and  organs  which  are  apt  to  be  diseased 
in  aged  persons,  and  to  become  hardened  like  stone,  were  as  soft  as  an 
mfant's,  and  for  aught  that  appeared,  might  have  gone  on  another  100 
years.  And  so  of  the  other  organs.  The  liver  and  brain  were  in  a 
healthy  state.  He  died  of  the  disease  which  is  most  commonly  pro- 
duced by  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  and  tobacco — an  internal  cancer. 
There  was  a  band  ^hree  or  four  inches  broad  aronnd  the  stomach,  which 
w^as  schirrous  or  thickened.  I  am  far  from  wishing  to  say  any  thing  to 
the  discredit  of  the  late  Dr.  Holyoke,  who  was  my  personal  friend.  But 
if  his  great  age  is  to  be  made  an  argument  for  the  moderate  use  of  spirits, 
I  desire  that  his  schirrous,  cancerous  stomach  should  be  put  alongside  of 
it. — Dr.  Pierson^s  testimony  before  the  Lff\slature  of  Mass.  See  Temver- 
ance  Joxitnal,  1839,  f.  67. — S. 


104  VEGETABLE    DIET 

on  these  subjects.  Men  have  arrived  at  double,  and  more  than 
double,  what  is  the  greatest  common  extent  of  Imman  life. 
The  real  wonder,  therefore,  is  that  such  multitudes  perish  pre- 
maturely. 

The  effects,  therefore,  of  animal  food  and  other  noxious  mat- 
ter, of  inducing  and  accelerating  fatal  disease,  are  not  immediate 
but  ultimate  effects.  The  immediate  effect  is  to  engender  a 
diseased  habit  or  state  of  constitution,  not  enough  to  impede 
the  ordinary  occupations  of  life,  but  in  many  to  render  life  it- 
self a  long-continued  sickness,  and  to  make  the  great  mass  of 
society  morbidly  susceptible  of  many  passing  impressions,  which 
would  have  no  injurious  influence  upon  healthy  systems.  Even  in 
the  early  stages  of  life,  the  agency  of  these  habits  is  often  suffi- 
ciently obvious.  It  appears  in  the  change  of  complexion,  the 
falling  off  of  the  hair,  the  decay  of  the  teeth,  the  impaired 
power  of  the  senses,  as  of  the  hearing  and  the  eyesight,  de- 
foedations  of  the  skin,  and  many  other  marks  of  disease,  which 
are  as  various  as  the  infinitely  various  constitutions  of  different 
individuals.  As  life  proceeds,  the  resisting  powers  of  the  body 
diminish,  and,  in  consequence,  the  derangement  of  the  system, 
produced  by  the  slow  but  incessant  action  of  morbific  causes, 
becomes  more  evident.  In  some,  the  springs  of  life  are  secretly 
undermined,  with  little  evident  derangement  of  the  functions  ; 
and  such  persons  are  cut  off  suddenly  by  acute  illness,  while 
enjoying  apparent  good  health.  In  others,  chronic  diseases 
take  place,  perhaps  not  immediately  affecting  life,  but  which, 
for  the  most  part,  increase  in  severity  as  years  advance.  Others, 
again,  suffer  lingering  diseases,  which  gradually,  but  inevitably, 
terminate  in  the  dissolution  of  the  body. 

Such  diseases  as  these,  then,  must  be  regarded  as  the  ulti- 
mate result  of  the  noxious  powers  which  habitually  act  upon 
the  body.  In  all  of  them,  the  vitality  of  the  body,  or  the  pow- 
ers which  are  essential  to  the  due  performance  of  the  functions 
of  life,  are  radically  impaired.  The  variety  of  symptoms  can 
be  esteemed  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  different  forms  of 
death,  as  some  organs  suffer  more  than  others. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  so  little  can  be  found  in  medi- 
cal writers  on  the  subject  of  the  connection  of  the  diseases  with 
the  food,  circumstances,  and  occupations  of  different  nations  or 
classes  of  society  ;  and  still  more,  that  the  greater  part  of  what 
has  been  said  on  these  subjects  is  probably  erroneous.  Some 
assertions,  made  apparently  on  good  authority,  aie  so  directly 
contradictory  to  the  doctrine  I  have  attempted  to  establish, 
that  I  cannot  pass  tht  3a  wholly  unncticed. 


IN    CHR^A'IC    DISEASES.  105 

The  Laplanders  have  been  often  asserted  to  be  an  example 
of  a  people  living  wholly  upon  animnl  food,  and  enjoying  under 
this  diet  perfect  health,  and  arriving  commonly  at  an  extr;ioi-di- 
nary  degree  of  longevity.  The  authority  of  Linnaeus  is  cited 
in  proof  of  the  correctness  of  these  assertions.  He  has  said  of 
the  Laplander  :  *'  Tu  ducis  innocentissimos  titos  annos  ultra 
centcnarium  numeruni  cam  facili  senectute  et  summa  sanitate. 
Tc  latent  myriades  inorhoriiin  nobis  EuropcBls  communes ^ 

Yv^ith  regard  to  longevity,  no  assertions  can  l)e  depended 
upon,  unless  taken  from  authentic  registers,  of  which,  pro- 
bably, none  exist  in  Lapland.  It  seems  hardly  possible  that 
many  individuals  among  this  illiterate  people  could  be  really 
acquaintfid  with  their  own  age.  And  with  regard  botli  to 
health  and  longevity,  the  accounts  of  modern  travelers  give  us 
no  reason  to  think  that  this  people  is  peculiarly  fa^'ored. 
Acerbi,  in  liis  travels,  mentions  incidentally  one  young  widow, 
and  another  paralytic  person ;  and  as,  in  transiently  passing 
through  such  a  country,  the  opportunities  of  observation  must 
have  been  very  few,  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  there  is,  at 
least,  the  usual  proportion  of  sick  among  them. 

Still  less  favorable  is  the  general  picture  of  their  habits  and 
manners.  The  above-mentioned  writer  describes  them  as 
*'  feeble,  awkward,  and  helpless  beings."  He  says,  that  "  the 
unsettled  and  ■^vandering  Laplanders  are  remarkable  for  sloth 
and  dirt ;"  that  "  stupidity,  laziness,  and  beastliness  were  pro- 
minent in  all  they  did,  and  in  all  that  appertained  to  them." 
And  of  these  tribes  it  appears  that  those  who  subsist  by  fish- 
ing are  the  most  miserable.  The  account  recently  published 
by  Von  Buch  is,  if  possible,  less  advantageous  than  that  of 
Acerbi. 

Nor  is  it  true  that  the  Laplanders  do  not  use  some  vegeta- 
ble matter  in  their  diet,  even  daily.  They  exchange,  at  the  fair 
of  Kantokeino,  the  skins  of  their  animals  for  meal  among  other 
articles  ;  and  Acerbi  asserts  that  "  the  corn  they  obtain  is  con- 
verted into  flour  for  their  own  use,  which,  through  long  habit, 
is  become  so  necessary  an  article  of  their  subsistence  that  they 
are  miserable  if  they  have  it  not  all  the  year  round." 

Moreover,  the  herds  of  rein-deer  are  milked  daily,  and  there- 
fore much  of  their  subsistence  must  be  drawn  from  this  source. 
It  appears  that  the  milk,  by  being  frozen,  is  kept  perfectly 
sweet  and  fit  for  use  during  all  the  winter  months.  This  it  is 
which  serves  as  a  substitute  for  vegetable  food.  After  all,  how- 
ever, it  must  be  allowed  that  the  supply  of  vegetable  food  to  this 
.  people,  from  their  ignorai>;3  of  agriculture,  is  very  scanty ;  and 
5* 


106  VEGETABLE    DIET 

I  cannot  doubt  that  they  suffer  from  this  cnuse  exceedingly. 
If,  as  Linwaius  asserts,  they  are  exempt  from  many  European 
dl  cases,  they  are,  probably,  those  proceeding  from  contagions, 
which  can  hardly  be  kept  up  in  a  country  so  thinly  inhabited. 

If  the  doctrine  I  have  maintained  be  well  founded,  we  ought 
certainly  to  expect  to  find  that  the  inhabitants  of  those  coun- 
tries which,  from  their  peculiar  circumstances,  are  the  most 
scantily  supplied  with  vegetable  food,  are  the  most  short-lived. 
Of  these  Lapland  is  the  strongest  example  in  Europe ;  but  I 
know  not  that  there  are  many  registers  of  the  mortality  of  this 
people.  Next  to  Lapland,  the  suppl}^  of  Iceland  is  perhaps 
the  most  scant}^  the  country  being  poor,  with  little  or  no  agri- 
culture, and  receiving  all  its  corn  by  importation.  Accordingly, 
flesh,  fish,  and  milk  (particularly  the  two  hitter)  are  the  princi- 
pal articles  of  sustenance  of  the  inhabitants,  I  should,  there- 
fore, have  confidently  expected  that  in  Iceland  the  duration  of 
life  would  be  relatively  small. 

But  I  find  it  asserted  by  Dr.  Holland,  a  gentleman  vvdio  ac- 
companied Sir  George  Mackenzie  in  his  tour  through  Iceland, 
that  "a  comparison  of  facts  would  probably  prove  that  the 
longevity  of  the  Icelanders  rather  exceeds  than  falls  short  of 
the  average  obtained  from  the  continental  nations  of  Europe." 
This  assertion,  coming  from  a  member  of  the  profession,  and  an 
enlightened  man,  deserves  some  consideration. 

Fortunately  the  work  from  which  it  is  taken  furnishes  the 
materials  for  its  refutation,  and  it  shows  how  little  dependence 
can  be  placed  on  hasty  and  cursory  observations,  made  on  sub- 
jects with  which  the  writers  are  perhaps  but  imperfectly  ac- 
quainted. Dr.  Holland  himself  has  supplied  us  with  a  docu- 
ment, an  examination  of  which  leads  to  a  conclusion  the  very 
reverse  of  that  which  the  doctor  has  drawn.  From  this  docu- 
ment it  appears  that  in  1810,  Iceland  contained  47,207  inhabi- 
tants. Of  this  number  there  were  1698  between  71  and  80 
years  of  age,  inclusive  ;  and  the  number  of  persons  living,  who 
were  still  older,  Avas  484.  If  to  this  latter  number  we  add  a 
tenth  part  of  the  former,  for  the  number  who,  having  passed 
the  age  of  79,  would  be  reckoned  to  have  reached  80  (a  num- 
ber which  must,  in  fact,  be  considerably  too  large),  we  shall 
have  a  total  of  653  persons  of  80  years  and  upward.  From 
this  it  appears  that  in  Iceland  1  in  70  lives  to  be  80  years  of 
age.  But,  according  to  Dr.  Price  (see  p.  43),  even  in  London 
1  in  40  arrives  at  that  age ;  and  in  country  places  in  England, 
a  fourteenth,  or  even  less  than  a  twelfth  part  of  the  inhabitants 
hara  been  known  to  reach  this  age.     We  see,  therefore,  that 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES  107 

Iceland,  instead  of  exceeding  other  European  countries  in  lon- 
gevity, falls  very  short  even  of  tlie  metropolis  of  England ;  and 
we  may  safely  conclude  that  a  diet  consisting  principally  of  fish 
and  milk  is  unfavorable  to  long  life. 

I  cannot  avoid  noticing  in  this  place  the  remarkable  fact,  re- 
corded in  this  same  work,  that  at  Heimaey,  the  only  one  of  the 
Westraaiin  Islands  which  is  inhabited,  scarcely  a  single  instance 
has  been  known  during  th«  last  twenty  years  of  a  child  surviv- 
ing the  period  of  infancy.  In  consequence,  the  population, 
which  does  not  ex-ceed  200  souls,  is  entirely  kept  up  by  emi- 
gration from  the  main-land  of  Iceland.  The  food  of  these  peo- 
ple consists  principally  of  sea-birds — fulmers  and  puffins  {2'^^'^^- 
cel  laria  glacialis  arad  alee  arctica  of  Linnseus).  The  fulmers 
they  procure  in  vast  abundance,  and  they  use  the  eggs  and 
flesh  of  the  birds,  and  salt  the  latter  for  their  winter  food. 
There  are  a  few  cows  and  sheep  on  the  island,  but  the  inhabi- 
tants ar«  said  to  have  no  veg'etable  food. 

The  disease  which  principally  cuts  off  the  infants  is  that 
species  of  tetanus  which  has  been  called  trismus  infantum.  The 
writer  of  this  account  says  that  the  same  sea-fowl  *'  is  the  prin- 
cipal ahment  of  the  people  of  St.  Kilda,  the  most  remote  of  the 
western  islands  of  Scotland,  which  I  visited  in  1800  ;  a  peculiar 
and  fatal  disease,  which  attacks  children,  is  common  to  both 
places,  and  may  probably  be  occasioned  by  the  mode  of  living." 

Norway  is  a  country  in  the  same  situation  as  Iceland.  It  is 
said  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  soil  is  incapable  of  bearing 
corn;  and  in  consequence  the  principal  dependence  for  that 
essential  article  is  on  importation.  Pasturage  affords  a  large 
proportion  of  the  subsistence  of  the  people.  The  housernen,  or 
married  laborers,  all  possess  cattle ;  the  poorest  have  two  or 
three  cows  ;  and  stores  of  cheese,  salt  butter,  salt  fish,  and  bacon 
are  laid  up  for  winter  provisions.  Such  kinds  of  matter  there- 
fore form  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  daily  food  of 
the  mass  of  the  inhabitants.  From  these  facts,  for  which  I  am 
indebted  to  Mr.  Malthus,  we  may  conclude  that  the  Norwegians, 
as  a  community,  use  a  less  proportion  of  vegetable  food  than  is 
common  in  this  country;  and  I  should  therefore  infer  from  it  a 
more  rapid  relative  mortality.  But  the  account  of  Mr.  Malthus 
is  apparently  in  contradiction  to  this  inference,  for  he  says  of 
this  country,  "  in  common  years  the  mortality  is  less  than  in 
any  other  country  in  Europe.  The  proportion  of  the  annual 
deaths  to  the  whole  population,  on  an  average  throughout  the 
whole  country,  is  only  as  cne  to  forty-eight." 

Notwithstaading  this  apparent  contradiction,  a  more  narrow 


JOS  TEGETABLE  DIE-^ 

inquiry  must  convince  us  that  it  is  favorable  to  my  principles. 
It  appears  in  the  first  place  that  the  climate  of  Norway  is  very 
health}^,  and  it  is  allowed  that  it  is  remarkably  free  from  epi- 
demic sickness.  This  exemption  is  principally  due  to  the  scan- 
tiness of  its  population,  scattered  over  an  immense  surface.  The 
Norwegians  are  still  very  much  in  a  pastoral  state,  depending 
for  their  support  upon  their  cattle,  and  this  forms  an  additional 
proof  that  this  state  is  unfavorable  to  the  increase  of  a  people. 

But,  secondly,  Norway  is  without  any  large  manufacturing 
towns ;  what  there  are,  are  few  and  inconsiderable  ;  the  largest 
of  them,  such  as  Christiana  and  Drontheim,  do  not  possess  a 
market.  Hence  we  see  that  Norway  ought  to  be  esteemed  to 
be  almost  a  country  place ;  and  to  estimate  the  consequences 
of  its  habits,  we  should  compare  its  mortality,  not  with  that  of 
the  countries  crowded  with  large  and  populous  cities,  but  rathei 
with  that  of  the  villages  and  country  places  of  the  same  coun- 
tries. The  inhabitants  of  Norway  are,  upon  the  whole,  much 
more  dispersed  than  these.  But  the  mortality  of  Norway  is 
somewhat  greater  than  that  of  Great  Britain,  including  its  im- 
mense metropolis,  and  its  numerous  and  crowded  cities — this 
being,  according  to  the  last  returns,  only  one  in  forty-nine  of 
the  whole  population.  Much  greater  is  it  than  the  average 
mortality  of  the  country  places  and  villages  of  Great  Britain. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Manchester  it  has  been  shown  that  this  mor- 
tality was  only  one  in  fifty-six ;  at  Ackworth  only  one  in  sixty. 
In  these  places  contagious  fevers  of  various  kinds  must  add  to 
the  destruction  of  life.  From  all  these  considerations  I  cannot 
consider  the  example  of  Norway  as  affording  any  proof  of  the 
salubrity  of  the  diet  of  the  inhabitants. 

In  the  Statistical  Reports  of  Sir  John  Sinclair,  copied  by  Dr. 
Beddoes,  in  his  Essay  on  Consumption,  I  find  the  following 
paragraph  :  "  Rayne,  Aberdeenshire.  Stockings  knit  by  all  the 
women,  some  old  men,  and  boys.  Hysterics  very  common, 
and  cutaneous  disorders.  Yearly  deaths,  seventeen  in  a  popu- 
lation of  1173  ;  of  the  seventeen,  seven -or  eight  are  from  con- 
sumption ;  living,  wretched.'* 

What  the  writer  of  this  account  understood  by  wretched  liv- 
ing does  not  appear.  I  conjecture,  however,  that  it  means 
principally  oatmeal  and  potatoes.  Whatever  it  be,  it  would  bo 
well  if  this  wretched  living  were  more  generally  adopted  ;  for  it 
appears  that  the  annual  mortality  of  this  place  is  no  more  than 
one  in  sixty-nine ;  a  smaller  proportion  than  any  recorded  in 
England. 

It  is  evident  from  these  examples  that  no  weight  can  be 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES,  109 

attached  to  vague  assertions,  even  of  respectable  observers,  on 
these  subjects,  unless  they  are  supported  by  documents  which 
evince  their  accuracy. 

From  the  high  state  of  cultivation  of  almost  all  European 
countries,  the  supply  of  vegetable  food  is  abundant  throughout 
this  part  of  the  world.  Fi-om  its  comparative  cheapness,  the 
laboring  classes  are  in  many  situations  from  necessity  confined 
to  it ;  and  of  those  in  easy  circumstances,  most  persons  make  it 
the  principal  part  of  the  diet  of  children ;  and,  for  the  most 
part,  all  use  a  moderate  portion  of  vegetable  food  two  or  three 
times  a  day.  The  greater  part  of  these  communities  are  well 
grown  and  well  formed.  This  is  so  much  the  ordinary  condi- 
tion of  the  bulk  of  the  people,  that  it  is  looked  upon  as  the 
common  course  of  nature ;  and  deviations  from  the  proper  pro- 
portions of  the  body,  or  other  organic  defects,  are  considered 
as  diseases  peculiar  to  the  individual,  arising  out  of  some  defect 
of  the  constitution,  and  in  no  manner  connected  with  the  mode 
of  living. 

But  if  we  examine  the  uncivilized  races  of  mankind,  we  shall, 
perhaps,  be  led  to  form  different  conclusions.  These  whole 
tribes  of  men  we  consider  as  barbarians,  and  with  reason,  if  we 
consider  the  knowledge  of  letters  as  the  test  of  civilization. 
But  many  of  them,  being  acquainted  with  agriculture  and  other 
useful  arts,  are  so  far  as  little  barbarous  as  the  mass  of  the 
population  of  Europe.  Other  tribes  again  are  very  imperfectly 
versed  in  that  or  any  other  of  the  most  necessary  arts ;  and 
some  are  wholly  ignorant  of  it,  and  of  almost  all  other  useful 
knowledge. 

This  diversity  of  mental  cultivation  has  produced  a  corre- 
sponding diversity  in  their  general  modes  of  life,  and  particu- 
larly in  their  food.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  those  who  practice 
agriculture,  not  only  escape  from  the  misery  of  a  precarious  sub- 
sistence, but  acquire  a  bodily  organization  infinitely  superior  to 
that  of  tribes  who  are  ignorant  of  this  useful  art.  On  the  other 
hand,  among  these  latter  tribes  a  defective  organization  is  so 
common  that  it  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  errors  in  the  mode 
of  life.  This  will  lead  us  to  tlie  conclusion,  which  I  am  con- 
vinced is  perfectly  correct,  that  an  abundant  supply  of  vegeta- 
ble food  is  necessary  to  the  complete  and  perfect  organization 
of  the  human  body. 

I  shall  cite  a  few  facts  in  proof  of  the  justness  of  this  doc- 
trine. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Andaman  Islands  (situated  in  the 
Indian  Ocean)  are  described  as  the  most  uncivilized  of  the 


110  VEGETABLE    DIET 

human  race.  The}^  have  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
negro.  Though  lying  within  the  tropics,  the  cocoa-nut-tree, 
which  is  so  great  a  b.eising  to  almost  all  the  islands  of  the 
Indian  and  Pacific  oceans,  is  denied  to  these ;  and  the  natives 
practice  no  sort  of  agriculture.  They  inhabit  therefore  the 
coasts  ;  their  only  vegetable  food  is  the  scanty  produce  of  the 
woods ;  but  their  principal  subsistence  is  drawn  from  fish,  shell- 
fish, and  the  animals  they  catch  in  the  woods.  There  is  a  race 
of  hogs  on  the  island,  one  of  which  affords  them  an  occasional 
banquet ;  but  they  eat  likewise  lizards,  guanos,  rats,  snakes,  and 
whatever  else  they  can  lay  their  hands  upon.  This  wretched 
people  in  stature  seldo«  exceed  five  feet ;  their  limbs  are  dis- 
proportionally  slender  and  ill  formed,  with  high  shoulders  and 
large  heads ;  their  aspect  is  uncouth,  and  their  countenances 
exhibit  the  extreme  of  wretchedness,  displaying  a  horrid  mix- 
ture of  famine  and  ferocity. 

This  is  under  a  tropical  sun.  But  in  a  northern  region  the 
effects  of  similar  causes  are  very  similar.  The  Ostiaks  are  the 
Tartar  tribes  inhabiting  the  regions  watered  by  the  Obi.  They 
subsist  very  much  by  fishing,  though  a  portion  of  their  food 
is  the  produce  of  the  chase.  Of  their  frame  of  body  Pallas 
says,  "  of  the  greater  number  the  height  is  moderate,  rather 
below  the  middle  stature.  They  are  not  strong ;  the  leg  is 
particularly  thin  and  with  little  calf  {efilee).  Their  figure  is  in 
general  disagreeable ;  the  complexion  pale,  without  any  cha- 
racteristic trait." 

Of  the  savages  of  Yan  Diemen's  Land,  it  is  said  by  Peron 
that  they  have  all  of  them,  though  well  made  in  other  respects 
the  leg  and  fore-arras  thin  and  feeble,  and  the  belly  swelled. 
These  savages  have  less  strength  than  Europeans.  Their  chief 
sustenance  is  flesh  and  fish. 

The  same  writer  observes  that  this  emaciation  of  the  limbs 
of  the  savages  of  New  Holland  was  observed  by  Labillardiere, 
Cook,  and  Collins.  They  have  scarce  any  fruits ;  the  kangaroo 
and  one  other  species  (I  believe  an  oppossum)  are  the  only 
animals  of  the  country,  and  these  are  scarce;  therefore  they 
live  much  on  fish,  which  from  their  emigration  often  fails.  In 
consequence,  in  the  interior,  they  feed  on  frogs,  lizards,  serpents, 
the  larva  of  insects  and  caterpillars,  and  even  (as  at  New  Cale- 
donia) upon  ants. 

A  similar  defect  of  conformation  has  been  observed  in  the 
miserable  tribes  upon  the  coast  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  They 
fish  much,  and  have  a  very  scanty  supply  of  vegetables,  though 
they  certamly  do  not  go  without  them.     ** Their  shoulders  and 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  Ill 

their  chest,"  says  Forster,  "are  large  and  bony;  the  rest  of 
their  body  so  thin  and  slender,  that  on  looking  at  the  different 
parts  separately,  we  could  not  persuade  ourselves  that  they 
belonged  to  the  same  individuals."* 

Tlie  country  which  these  wretched  Pesserais  inhabit  is 
wholly  uncultivated,  and  produces  spontaneously  very  few  escu- 
lent vegetables.  Captain  Cook  observed  some  berry-bearing 
plants  and  scurvy  grass.  Perhaps  the  interior  parts  (of  which 
nothing  is  known)  may  furnish  more  ;  but  however  that  may  be, 
the  whole  is  doubtless  extremely  scanty.  But  of  birds  and 
animals  which  gain  their  food  from  the  ocean,  there  is  the 
greatest  possible  abundance.  Some  of  the  islands  are  abso- 
lutely covered  by  these  animals,  which  may  be  killed  in  any 
numbers  with  the  greatest  ease. 

Now  it  is  indisputable  that  all  animals,  which  find  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  food  suited  to  their  respective  natures,  increase 
in  numbers.  If,  then,  animals  such  as  these  were  proper  food 
for  man,  these  islanders  would  be  rioting  in  abundance  and 
luxury,  and  we  should  find  a  great  population.  But  instead  ot 
this  they  are  very  few  in  number,  and,  as  Captain  Cook  says, 
"  a  little,  ugly,  half-starved,  beardless  race."  We  may  safely 
conclude,  then,  that  both  the  deformity  and  stupidity  of  this 
race  is  due  to  their  miserable  diet,  and  that  the  numbers  of  men 
are  limited,  not  by  the  supply  of  animal,  but  by  that  of  vege- 
table matter. 

Let  us  now  compare  these  miserable  races  with  the  natives 
of  Otaheite — a  people  who,  though  they  use  both  flesh  and  fish 
in  moderate  quantities,  draw  their  principal  subsistence  from  the 
soil — practicing  agriculture  in  no  mean  degree  of  perfection, 
and  that  when  they  possessed  no  iron  instrument,  and  without 
the  aid  of  domesticated  animals.  Of  all  the  food  of  these  peo- 
ple, it  has  been  said  that  at  least  four  fifths  was  vegetable,  and  a 
large  portion  of  that  was  unchanged  by  culinary  preparation. 
Dr.  Forster  gives  the  following  description  of  the  bodily  organi- 
zation of  the  better  sort  of  these  islanders :  "  The  features  of 

*  Forster's  Observations.  The  same  writer  says,  "  we  found  them  to 
be  a  short,  squat  race  with  large  heads ;  their  color  yellowisli  brown,  the 
features  harsh,  the  face  broad,  the  cheek  bones  high  and  prominent,  the 
nose  flat,  the  nostrils  and  mouth  large,  and  the  whole  countenance  with- 
out meaning.  All  the  upper  part  of  the  body  is  stout ;  the  shoulders  and. 
chest  broad ;  the  belly  strait,  but  not  prominent.  The  feet  are  by  no 
means  proportioned  to  the  other  parts;  for  llie  thighs  are  lean,  the  legs 
bent,  the  knees  larga,  and  the  toes  turned  inward.  They  seem  to  be 
good-natured,  friendlv,  and  harmless,  but  remarkably  stupit!.  — Forster, 
p.  250. 


112  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  face  Jire  generally  regular,  soft,  and  beautiful ;  the  nose 
something  broad  below ;  the  chin  is  overspread  and  darkened 
by  a  fine  beard.  The  women  have  an  open,  cheerful  counte- 
nance, a  full  bright  and  sparkling  eye ;  the  face  more  round 
than  oval ;  the  features  arranged  with  uncommon  symmetry, 
and  heightened  and  improved  by  a  smile  which  beggars  all 
description.  The  rest  of  the  body  above  the  waist  is  well  pro- 
portioned, included  in  the  most  beautiful  soft  outline,  and  some- 
times extremely  feminine. 

"  The  common  people,"  he  says,  "  are  likewise  in  general 
well  built  and  proportioned,  but  more -active,  and  with  limbs 
and  joints  delicately  shaped.  The  arms,  hands,  and  fingers  of 
some  are  so  exquisitely  delicate  and  beautiful,  that  they  would 
do  honor  to  a  Venus  de  Medicis." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Marquesas  are  acknowledged,  by  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  all  voyagers,  to  be  a  still  more  beauti- 
ful race.  And  it  may  be  said  in  general  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  other  Society  Islands,  the  Friendly  Islands,  Tanna,  New 
Caledonia,  the  Sandwich  Islands,  in  all  of  which  the  natives 
subsist  chiefly  upon  vegetables,  that  they  have  a  bodily  organi- 
zation of  the  highest  degree  of  perfection.  The  natives  of  some 
of  the  New  Hebrides  appear  to  be  the  strongest  exceptions  to 
the  beauty  of  this  race.  The  natives  of  Mallicollo  are  active 
and  intelligent ;  but  both  Cook  and  Forster  describe  them  as 
ugly,  having  faces  like  apes.  Of  their  manners  we  know  little. 
They  practice  agriculture.  But  they  probably  depend  much 
upon  their  bow  and  arrows  for  subsistence,  since  every  man  had 
one,  and  they  were  very  unwilling  to  part  with  one.  Bougain- 
ville says  that  the  natives  of  the  Isle  of  Lepers  (one  of  the  New 
Hebrides)  are  short,  ugly,  and  ill-proportioned.  I  know  noth- 
ing of  their  habits.  It  may  not  be  disagreeable  to  the  reader, 
if  I  here  introduce  an  extract  from  a  still  more  recent  voyager, 
though  it  only  goes  to  confirm  the  observations  already  made. 

"  The  Washington  Islands  do  not  appear  to  differ  essentially 
in  the  natural  productions  of  the  country  from  the  rest  of  the 
Marquesas,  or  from  the  Friendly  and  Society  Islands.  The 
bread-tree  (arto  carpus  incisa),  the  fruit  of  which,  according  to 
Avhat  Forster  says,  is  here  larger  and  finer  flavored  than  any 
where  else,  cocoa-nuts,  bananas,  Indiankole,  arum  esculentuni, 
yams,  dioscorea  alata,  and  batatas,  convolvulus  batatas  are  the 
principal  articles  of  food  among  the  vegetable  kingdom ;  sugar 
canes  are  also  in  abundance,  but  no  attention  is  paid  to  culti- 
vating thera.  The  Otaheitati  apple,  spondias,  which  the  above- 
named  celebrated  naturalist  (Forster)  did  no,'  find  at  the  Mar* 


.      l?f    CHRONIC    DISRASFS.  113 

quesas,  I  found  at  ISTulvabiwa,  but  it  M'as  somewhat  scarce. 
Besides  the  above  common  objects  of  food,  there  are  a  number 
of  other  fruits  and  roots,  wliich  the  inhabitants  eat  in  times  of 
scarcity. 

"Judging  from  the  accounts  of  all  navigators  who  have 
visited  the  Friendly  and  Society  Isles,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  the  people  of  the  Marquesas  and  Washington  Islands  ex- 
cel in  beauty  and  grandeur  of  foi-m,  in  regularity  of  features 
and  of  color,  all  the  other  South-Sea  islanders.  The  men  are 
almost  all  tall,  robust,  and  well  made.  Few  were  so  fat  and 
unwieldy  as  the  Otaheitans,  none  so  lean  and  meagre  as  the 
people  of  Easter  Island.  We  did  not  see  a  single  cripple  or 
deformed  person,  but  such  general  beaut}''  and  regularity  of 
form  that  it  greatly  excited  our  astonishment.  Many  of  them 
might  very  well  have  been  placed  by  the  side  of  the  most  cele- 
brated chef-d'ceuvres  of  antiquity,  and  they  would  have  lost 
nothing  by  the  comparison. 

"A  certain  Mau-ka-u,  or  Mufau  Taputakava.  particularly 
attracted  our  attention  from  his  exti-aordinary  height,  the  vast 
strength  of  his  body,  and  the  admirable  proportion  of  his  limbs 
and  muscles.  He  was  noAV  twenty  3-ears  old,  and  was  six  feet 
two  inches  high,  Paris  measure  ;'*  and  Counselor  Tilesius,  who 
unites  the  eye  of  a  connoisseur  and  an  artist,  said  he  never  saw 
any  one  so  perfectly  proportioned.  He  took  the  ti'ouble  of 
measuring  every  part  of  this  man  with  the  utmost  exactness, 
and  after  our  return  to  Europe  imparted  his  observations  to 
Counselor  Blumenbach,  of  Gottingen,  who  has  studied  so  as- 
siduously the  natural  history  of  man.  This  latter  compared 
the  proportions  with  the  Apollo  of  Belvidere,  and  found  that 
those  of  that  masterpiece  of  the  finest  ages  of  Grecian  art,  in 
which  is  combined  every  possible  integer  of' manly  beauty,  cor- 
responded exactly  with  our  Mufau,  an  inhabitant  of  the  island 
of  Nukahiwa. 

"  I  trust  that  this  subject  will  be  thought  sufficiently  inter- 
esting to  excuse  ray  giving  the  measurements  of  Mufau,  as 
taken  by  Counselor  Tilesius,  and  detailed  in  Voigt's  Magazine 
of  Natural  History. "f  These  proportions  will  be  found  in  the 
note  below. 

*  A  French  foot  measures  thirteen  inches,  English  measure, 
t  Height,  six  feet  two  inclies,  Paris  measure. 
Breadth  between  the  shoulders,  nineteen  inches  two  lines. 
In  the  periphery,  forty  inches. 
Breadth  across  the  breast,  fifteen  inches. 

Length  of  the  arms  from  the  point  of  the  shoulder  to  the  end  of  tue 
longest  finger,  twenty-two  inches  fair  lines. 


114  VEGKTABLE    DIET 

The  truth  of  these  infeiences  will  be  still  more  evident  from 
comparing  tribes  living  nearly  in  the  same  climate,  and  with  no 
other  difference  of  habit  than  a  more  abundant  use  of  vegetables. 
We  may  select  for  this  purpose  the  Nlvv  Zealanders  and  New 
Hollanders.  Both  of  these  nations  are  destitute  of  domestic 
animals ;  both  draw  a  large  portion  of  their  subsistence  from 
the  sea ;  and  both  live  in  a  climate  sufficiently  mild,  and  nearly 
equally  removed  from  the  equator.  But  the  New  Zealander 
cultivates  the  soil,  from  which  he  draws  perhaps  one  half  of 
his  subsistence.  The  New  Hollander  uses  no  vegetables  except 
what  he  picks  up  accidentally,  the  spontaneous  produce  of  the 
earth.  *'  A  few  berries,  the  yam  and  fern  root,  the  flowers  of 
the  different  banksias,  and  at  times  some  honey  make  up  the 
whole  vegetable  catalogue." 

The  whole  quantity  is,  of  course,  very  small.  The  conse- 
quence is,  the  New  Zealander  enjo3"s  a  perfect  organization  ; 
but  the  New  Hollander  is  defective.  "  Their  size,"  says  Dr. 
Forster  of  the  former,  "  is  generally  tall,  their  body  strong  and 
formed  for  fatigue,  their  limbs  proportioned  and  well  knit."  Of 
the  latter  Collins  testifies,  that  "  in  general,  indeed  almost  uni- 
versally, the  limbs  of  these  people  wei-e  small ;  of  mo.st  of  them 
the  arms,  legs,  and  thighs  Avere  very  thin." 

Beauty  of  features  appears  to  depend  upon  still  nicer  circum- 
stances.    Many  races  which  are  perfectly  vigorous  are  very 

Length  of  the  head  fiom  thr?  skull  to  the  chin,  ten  inches. 

Circumference  of  the  head,  measured  round  the  forehead,  and  just 
above  the  ears,  twenty-three  inches  and  a  half. 

Circumference  of  the  breast,  forty-two  inches. 

Periphery  of  the  lower  belly  about  the  spleen,  thiity-two  inches. 

Periphery  of  tUe  great  bason,  round  the  hips,  forty-two  inches. 

Periphery  of  the  upper  part  of  the  thigh,  twenty-five  inches. 

Periphery  of  the  calf*of  the  leg,  seventeen  inches  and  a  half. 

Periphery  of  the  ankle  an  inch  above  the  foot,  where  it  is  smallest,  ten 
inches. 

Length  of  the  foot,  twelve  inches  and  a  half. 

Greatest  breadth  of  the  foot,  five  inches  and  a  half. 

Circumference  of  the  upper  part  of  the  arm,  thirteen  inches  and  a 
half. 

Circumference  of  the  arm  above  the  elbow,  thirteen  inches  and  a 
quarter. 

Circumference  of  the  hand,  eleven  inches  and  a  quarter. 

Length  of  the  hand,  nine  inches. 

Circumference  of  the  neck,  sixteen  inches. 

Length  from  the  skull  to  the  navel,  thirty-one  inches  and  a  half. 

Length  from  the  navel  to  the  division  of  the  thighs,  ten  inches  and  a 
half. 

Length  from  the  division  of  the  thighs  to  the  sole  of  the  foot,  thirty 
eight  irishes  — Langsdorf^ s  Travels,  j).  lOG. 


IX     CHROMC    DISK  ASKS.  115 

hard  favored ;  but  it  can  luudly  be  doubted  that  all  are  beau- 
tiful ia  their  own  estimation.  iJut  the  form  of  features  which 
accompanies  the  most  perfect  races  of  mankind  must  be  reckon- 
ed the  pi'oper  standard  of  beauty;  and  where  great  deviations 
from  tliis  standard  are  universal,  we  must  suspect  the  agency 
of  some  general  cause. 

Tlie  Calmucks  and  the  Circassians  arc  not  remote  from  each 
other,  but  wonderfully  dilTerent  in  their  form  and  physiognomy. 
The  portrait  of  the  former  is  thus  drawn  by  Dr.  Chirke:  •'  No- 
thing is  more  hideons  than  a  Calmuck.  High,  prominent,  and 
broad  cheek  bones,  very  little  eyes  widely  separated  from  each 
other,  a  flat  and  broad  nose,  coarse  greasy  jet  black  hair, 
scarcely  any  eyebrows,  and  enormous  prominent  ears  compose 
no  very  inviting  countenance."  Of  the  women  he  says  :  "  It 
was  difficult  to  distinguish  the  sex,  so  horrible  and  inhuman  was 
their  appearance." 

Of  the  Circassians  we  have  from  the  pen  of  the  same  writer 
the  following  report :  "  The  beauty  of  features  and  form  for 
which  the  Circassians  have  been  so  long  celebrated,  is  certainly 
prevalent  among  them.  Their  noses  are  aquiline,  their  eye- 
brows arched  and  regular,  their  mouths  small,  their  teeth  re- 
markably white,  and  their  ears  not  so  large  nor  so  prominent 
as  among  the  Tartars  ;  although  from  wearing  the  head  always 
shaven  they  appear  to  disadvantage,  according  to  our  European 
notions.  They  are  well  shaped  and  very  active,  being  gene- 
rally of  the  middle  sizes,  seldom  exceeding  five  feet  eight  or 
nine  inches.  Their  women  are  the  most  beautiful  perhaps  in 
the  world,  of  enchanting  perfection  of  countenance,  and  very 
delicate  features.  Those  whom  we  saw,  the  accidental  captives 
of  w^ar,  were  remarkably  handsome.  The  most  chosen  works 
of  the  best  painters,  representing  a  Hector  or  a  Helen,  do  not 
display  greater  beauty  than  we  beheld  even  in  the  prison  of 
Ekaterinadara,  where  wounded  Circassians,  male  and  female, 
loaded  with  fetters,  and  huddled  together,  were  pining  in  sick- 
ness and  sorrow." 

Few  will  hesitate  to  pronounce  that  this  ugliness  of  the  Gal- 
mucks  is  the  natural  consequence  of  their  diet.  The  horse  is  to 
the  Calmuck  what  the  rein-deer  is  to  the  Laplander,  his  slave 
in  life,  and  his  food  after  death.  But  besides  horse  flesh,  which 
he  often  eats  raw,  the  Calmuck  devours  indiscriminately  every 
animal  he  can  kill.  "  ISTear  the  entrance  of  the  tent,"  says  Dr. 
Clarke,  "  hung  a  quantity  of  horse  flesh,  with  the  limbs  of  dogs, 
cats,  marmots,  rats,  etc.,  drying  in  the  sun,  and  quite  black." 
And  of  the  grossness  of  their  manners  we  have  the  following 


116  VEGETABLE    DIET 

picture :  "  Just  before  entering  the  town,  a  young  Oalmuck 
woman  passed  us  astride  on  horseback,  laden  with  raw  horse 
flesh,  hano^inor  hke  carrion  before  her  on  each  side.  She  was 
grinning  archly  at  the  treasure  she  had  obtained ;  this  we  after- 
ward found  to  be  really  carrion.  A  dead  horse  lying  in  the 
ditch  surrounding  the  town  on  the  land  side  had  attracted 
about  thirteen  dogs,  w^hom  we  found  greedily  devouring  wlmt 
remained,  the  Calmuck  having  contested  the  prize  with  them 
just  before,  and  helped  herself  to  as  much  of  the  mangled  car- 
cass as  she  could  carry  away." 

Such  are  pastoral  manners,  naked  and  undisguised  by  the 
veil  of  artificial  refinement ;  and  such  their  consequences.  Of 
the  Circassians  we  know  little,  except  that  they  subsist  chicly 
by  agriculture.  Traveling  through  their  territory  is  thought 
to  be  so  dangerous,  that  it  has  hardly  been  attempted.  A  slight 
view  that  Dr.  Clarke  obtained  of  a  part  of  it  showed  "  a  coun- 
try cultivated  like  a  garden."  Probably  some  other  local  cir- 
cumstances are  peculiarly  favorable.  It  is  said  that  the  teeth 
are  remarkably  white ;  a  circumstance  which  indicates  great 
purity  both  of  the  sohd  and  the  fluid  matter  which  enters  into 
their  diet. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  are  a  tribe  of  Indians  called 
Ricaras.  They  cultivate  the  earth  ;  raise  corn,  maize,  and  other 
produce,  in  quantities  sufficient  both  for  their  own  consumption 
and  for  sale  and  exchange  with  their  neighbors.  This  tribe  is 
distinguished  for  the  beauty  of  their  persons ;  the  men  are  tall 
and  well  proportioned,  the  women  handsome  and  lively.  The 
following  trait  of  their  character  sufficiently  marks  their  intel- 
lec'tual  endowments :  "■  On  our  side  w^e  were  equally  gratified 
at  discovering  that  these  Ricaras  made  use  of  no  spirituous 
liquors  of  any  kind,  the  example  of  the  traders  who  bring  it  to 
them  so  far  from  tempting  having  in  fact  disgusted  them.  Sup- 
posing that  it  was  as  agreeable  to  them  as  to  the  other  Indians, 
we  had  at  first  oftered  them  whiskey,  but  they  refused  it  with 
this  sensible  remark,  that  they  were  surprised  that  their  father 
should  present  to  them  a  liquor  which  would  make  them  fools." 

The  Laplanders  are  of  dwarfish  stature.  The  Greenlanders 
are  also  very  short,  generally  under  five  feet.  It  may  be  thought 
that  this  is  the  eff'ect  of  the  rigor  of  their  polar  cold.  But  we 
find  interspersed  among  them,  and  inhabiting  the  very  same 
country,  numerous  families  of  industrious  Finns,  who  cultivate 
the  earth,  and  subsist  chiefly  on  its  produce;  and  this  race, 
though  they  remain  for  centuries  in  the  same  country,  do  not 
appear  tc  be  in  the  least  smaller  than  i\  e  Swedes  and  Norwe- 


TN    CHRONIC    ETSEASES.  117 

gians.  We  must  acknowledge,  then,  that  the  mode  of  life  has 
infinitely  more  effect  upon  the  human  form  than  climate. 

We  need  not,  however,  travel  to  the  other  side  of  the  globe 
for  proofs  of  the  salubrity  of  vegetable  food,  or  to  show  that 
the  human  body  will  upon  no  other  support  arrive  at  its  full 
stature,  attain  its  just  proportion,  and  be  marked  by  health, 
strength,  and  beauty.  The  great  body  of  our  English  peasantry, 
md  even  vast  multitudes  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis, 
subsist  almost  wholly  on  vegetables,  and  are  perfectly  Avell 
nourished.  The  peasantry  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  who 
live  principally  on  potatoes  and  butter-milk,  are  celebrated  as 
the  handsomest  race  in  England.  Two  or  three  millions  of  our 
fellow -subjects  in  Ireland  are  supported  thvj  same  way.  On 
this  subject  it  is  said  by  Dr.  Adam  Smith:  "The  chairmen, 
porters,  and  coal  heavers  in  London,  and  those  unfortunate 
women  who  live  by  prostitution,  the  strongest  men,  and  the 
most  beautiful  women  perhaps  in  the  British  dominions,  are 
said  to  be,  the  greater  part  of  them,  from  the  lower  rank  of 
people  in  Ireland,  who  are  generally  fed  with  this  root — the 
potatoe.  No  food  can  afford  a  more  decisive  proof  of  its  nour- 
ishing quality,  or  of  its  being  peculiarly  suitable  to  the  health 
of  the  human  constitution." 

A  notion  has  been  very  prevalent,  even  among  philosophical 
writers,  that  the  food  should  vary  with  the  climate.  They  ob- 
serve that  between  the  tropics  the  natives  live  principally  upon 
fruits,  seeds,  and  roots.  Though  animal  food  is  not  avoided,  ex- 
cept among  some  particular  classes,  yet  men  are  in  these  climates 
exceedingly  sparing  of  its  use.  In  the  temperate  climates  the 
more  general  habit  is  to  use  a  mixture  of  animal  and  vegetable 
food,  which  is  held  to  be  in  these  regions  the  most  wholesome. 
In  the  high  northern  latitudes  animals  are  produced  in  plenty, 
but  vegetable  productions,  fit  for  the  food  of  man,  are  scanty ; 
and  in  these  countries,  therefore,  men  are  confined  principally 
to  animal  food.  They  go  even  so  far  as  to  say,  that  nature 
herself  in  these  regions  dictates  the  use  of  the  flesh  of  animals, 
for  that  men  must  of  necessity  use  this  sort  of  food,  or  perish 
from  hunger.  If  this  plea  be  well  founded  it  must  be  allowed 
to  be  unanswerable. 

The  above  is  certainly  a  faithful  account  of  the  present  habits 
of  mankind  in  general ;  but  it  appears  to  be  the  result  rather 
of  an  imperfect  state  of  civilization,  than  springing  either  from 
wisdom  or  necessity.  In  the  tropical  climates  animals  are,  or 
might  be  produced  more  abundantly  than  in  the  polar  regions, 
the  earth  being  more  fertile.     But  men  attach  themselves  more 


118  VEGETABLE    I  lET 

to  agriculture,  as  in  these  countries  the  ill  conseq.iences  of 
using  much  animal  food  are  more  evident,  and  therefore  univer- 
sally known  and  acknowledged.  In  the  temperate  climates  the 
existing  population  could  not  be  supported  by  pasturage  alone, 
and  therefore  the  body  of  the  people  of  necessity  used  a  mixed 
diet,  wholly  ignorant,  for  the  most  part,  of  its  effects  upon  the 
body.  In  the  high  northern  latitudes  agriculture  is  hardly 
known,  and  a  scanty  population  is  supported  by  fishing,  the 
chase,  or  pasturage,  with  a  scanty  supply  of  vegetable  produc- 
tions. But  they  live  so,  not  because  it  is  most  suitable  to  their 
situations,  but  from  their  ignorance  of  more  useful  arts. 

There  was  a  time,  probably,  when  in  every  part  of  the  globe 
men  lived  nearly  as  they  now  live  in  these  remote  regions.  I 
cannot,  therefore,  persuade  myself  that  even  in  those  climates 
it  is  necessary  for  man  to  support  his  own  life  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  other  animated  beings.  We  find  no  part  of  the  globe 
habitable  by  man  which  is  not  stocked  with  herbivorous  animals. 
The  Pesserais  of  Cape  Horn  is  clothed  with  the  skin  of  the  gu- 
anicoe  (a  species  of  deer).  At  the  northern  extremity  of 
the  same  continent,  the  buffalo,  the  moose-deer  (or  elk),  the 
musk  ox,  common  deer,  squirrels,  hares,  rabbits,  mice,  and 
other  animals,  which  draw  their  nutriment  from  the  earth,  are 
found  in  abundance  as  high  as  the  71st  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude, besides  a  plentiful  stock  of  bears,  wolves,  foxes,  wolverine*, 
and  other  carnivorous  animals,  which  are  sustained  indirectly 
from  the  same  source.  Where  the  support  of  every  species  of 
animals  is  so  abundant,  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  earth  should 
deny  to  man  alone  a  salubrious  and  innocent  repast. 

In  these  regions  the  transition  from  their  long  and  gloomy 
winter  and  summer  heat  is  immediate,  and  nature  compensates 
for  the  short  duration  of  the  season  of  vegetation  by  its  great 
rapidity  and  luxuriance.  The  heat  is  at  this  time  as  great  as 
in  our  own  climate  at  the  same  season.  The  country  becomes 
covered  with  verdure,  and  teems  with  life.  Near  the  North 
Cape,  the  Ulthna  Thule  of  Europe,  rich  pastures  tliat  want 
no  cultivation,  and  beautiful  natural  meadows  are  to  be  seen. 
And  even  at  the  very  extremity,  which  forms  the  cape  itself, 
in  the  7 1st  degree  of  north  latitude,  were  found  growing  some 
plants  of  angelica,  a  salubrious  vegetable.  The  aictic  regions 
are  not  even  without  their  delicacies,  unknown  tc  otlier  coun- 
tries. The  berry-bearing  plants  are  particvdar'y  abundant. 
The  ruhus  chamcemorns,  a  large  kind  of  raspberry ^  is  plentiful ; 
and  the  ruhus  arcticus,  a  plant  of  the  same  genus,  bears  a  fruit 
superior  in  fragrance  and  flavor  to  the  strawberry  and  rasp- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  119 

berry,  and  to  all  other  fruit  of  the  same  kind,  even  of  the 
choicest  productions  of  Italy.  A  small  plateful  of  this  fruit  is 
the  most  exquisite  of  perfumes. 

These  considerations  show  sufficiently  how  futile  is  this  plea 
of  necessity.  On  the  contrary,  they  render  it  sufficiently  evi- 
dent that,  in  whatever  part  of  the  habitable  globe  man  can  ex- 
ist, there  vegetable  nutriment  may  either  be  found  or  be  raised  ; 
that  in  no  situation  fit  for  the  habitation  of  man  is  the  earth 
devoid  of  prolific  power  sufficient  to  satisfy  his  wants,  and  even 
to  gratify  his  palate. 

This  plea  of  necessity  is  contradicted  even  by  experience ; 
for,  from  the  latest  accounts  which  have  been  published,  agri- 
culture has  at  length  penetrated  these  remote  regions.  The 
potato  cultivation  has  been  several  years  quite  general  at  Lyn- 
gen,  in  Lapland,  situated  under  the  YOth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude, and  the  same  is  called  a  blessed  corn  country.  Agricul- 
ture is  practiced  likewise  at  Alien ;  this  is  the  most  northern 
agricalture  of  the  world. 

As  men,  even  in  the  rudest  state  of  society,  display  a  higher 
degree  of  intellectual  power  than  other  animals,  which  is  ap- 
plied both  to  the  gaining  of  food  and  every  other  object  con- 
ducive to  his  well  being,  it  is  argued  that  this  makes  so  essen- 
tial a  difference  between  men  and  other  animals,  that  we  can- 
not apply  to  man  the  reasoning  that  is  acknowledged  to  be 
conclusive  with  regard  to  others.  In  animals  guided  by  in- 
stinct, it  is  true  that  we  see  a  very  exact  adaptation  of  their 
form  and  powers  to  the  objects  of  their  desires  and  appetites. 
We  may,  therefore,  in  these  commonly  infer  from  their  con- 
formation the  mode  of  hfe  to  which  they  are  fitted.  But  supe- 
rior powers  having  been  given  to  man  by  the  medium  of  a 
higher  order  of  intellect,  we  must  give  him  a  wider  field  of  ac- 
tion, nor  suppose  that  nothing  can  be  suited  to  his  nature  which 
happens  not  to  be  within  the  reach  of  his  unaided  physical  powers. 

I  would  allow  so  much  weight  to  this  argument  as  never  to 
permit  theoretical  reasoning  to  weigh  for  a  moment  against  the 
results  of  experience.  The  intellect  of  man  is  as  much  a  part 
of  his  proper  nature  as  his  bodily  frame,  given  him  surely 
to  promote  his  well  being.  But  I  suspect  that  its  power  over 
the  organization  must  necessarily  be  very  limited.  For  a  well- 
organized  frame  of  body  must  be  thought  to  be  a  possession 
anterior  to  all  other  improvements,  and  the  instrument  which 
the  intellect  itself  makes  use  of  to  acquire  the  materials  of  all 
other  improvements.  In  a  certain  degree  it  appears  essential  to 
the  iutellect  itself,  and  connatural  with  it.     It  follows,  then^ 


120  VEGETABLE    DIET 

that  a  just  bodily  organization  is  neither  the  object  nor  the 
consequence  of  intellectual  culture.  It  is  rather  the  gift  of  na- 
ture, which  is  saying,  nearly,  that  it  results  from  natural  habits. 
In  fact,  it  has  ever  been  more  the  effect  of  some  hapjiv  com- 
bination of  fortuitous  circumstances  than  of  design  or  wisdom. 

On  the  place  Avhich  man  holds  in  the  scale  of  animated  be- 
ings, all  naturalists  are  agreed.  There  are  those,  indeed,  who 
deem  it  a  sort  of  degradation  to  the  human  species  to  class 
mankind  with  monkeys,  apes,  and  baboons,  and  to  show  the 
analogy  of  his  structure  with  that  of  the  orang-outang.  But 
misplaced  piide  and  an  ignorant  misapprehension  cannot  alter 
the  nature  of  things.  Our  very  language  acknowledges  the 
reality  of  the  analogy  between  the  races  ;  monkey  can  mean 
nothing  but  mannikin,  or  little  man.  In  insisting  on  this  anal- 
ogy we  limit  ourselves  to  physical  facts  which  are  undeniable. 
But  granting  it  to  be  perfectly  correct,  it  does  not  follow  that 
man  in  consequence  approaches  more  nearly  to  the  nature  of  the 
monkey  than  he  does  to  that  of  the  otter,  except  in  the  single 
circumstance  of  the  choice  of  food.  The  monkey  is  not  in  any 
respect  superior  to  the  otter,  or  the  fox,  or  the  beaver,  or  any 
other  animal.  In  his  nobler  part,  his  rational  soul,  man  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  whole  tribe  of  animals  by  a  boundary 
which  cannot  be  passed.  It  is  only  when  man  divests  himself 
of  his  reason,  and  debases  himself  by  brutal  habits,  that  he  re- 
nounces his  just  rank  among  created  beings,  and  sinks  himself 
below  the  level  of  the  beasts. 

If  the  question  were  proposed  whether  man  were  by  nature 
intended  to  walk  erect,  or,  like  the  animals,  upon  all-fours, 
from  the  mode  in  which  the  head  is  united  to  the  spine,  from 
the  narrowness  of  the  ischiadic  bones,  from  the  structure  and 
position  of  the  socket  of  the  thigh,  from  the  whole  compagcs 
of  the  feet,  I  should  conclude  with  confidence  that  the  erect 
position  was  the  most  natural  to  the  human  species.  Looking 
upon  man  merely  as  an  animal,  I  should  likewise  conclude, 
from  the  structure  of  the  hand,  the  form  of  the  mouth,  the  artic- 
ulation of  the  under  jaw,  the  teeth,  the  stomach,  the  caecum,  the 
colon,  and  the  length  of  the  intestines ;  from  all  these  circum- 
stances, I  say,  I  should  conclude,  that  vegetable  food  is  that 
which  is  most  natural  to  man.*     Many,  indeed,  assert  that  man 

*  I  have  argued  at  some  length  in  my  "  Reports  on  Cancer,"  that  man 
is  in  his  structure  herbivorous.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  a  question  of 
extreme  importance,  and  I  have  therefore  thought  it  might  be  useful  to 
give  on  this  subject  the  sentiments  of  a  writer  who  has  made  compara- 
tive anatomy  a  peculiar  object  of  his  study.  The  following  quotation  is 
from  the  article   **  Man,"   in  Dr.  Rees'e  Encyclopedia,  written  by  Mr. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  121 

has  a  structure  between  that  of  the  herbivorous  and  carnivorous 
tribes.     Those  who  argue  tluis,  acknowledge  that  we  ought  to 

Lawrence,  assistant-surgeon  of  St.  Bartholemew's  Hospital.  "  Tlie  pre- 
sent seems  a  veiy  proper  place  for  cousidering  a  qixesliou  that  is  fre- 
quently agitated  on  this  subject,  whether  man  approaches  most  neaily  to 
the  carnivorous  or  herbivorous  animals  in  his  structure  ?  We  natiu-ally 
expect  to  find  iu  the  figure  and  construction  of  the  teeth  a  relation  to  tho 
kind  of  food  which  an  animal  subsists  on.  The  carnivorous  have  very 
long  and  pointed  cuspidaii  or  canine  teeth,  wnich  are  employed  as  wea- 
pons of  offence  and  defence,  and  are  very  serviceable  in  seizing  and 
lacerating  their  prey  ;  these  are  three  or  four  times  as  long  as  the  other 
teeth  in  some  animals,  as  the  lion,  tiger,  etc.,  and  constitute  very  formid- 
able weapons.  The  grinding  teeth  have  their  bases  elevated  into  pointed 
prominences,  and  those  of  the  lower  shut  within  those  of  the  upper  jaw. 
In  the  herbivo-rous  animals  these  terrible  canine  teeth  are  not  found,  and 
the  grinders  have  broad  surfaces  opposed  in  a  vertical  line  to  each  other  in 
the  two  jaws;  enamel  is  generally  intermixed  with  the  bone  of  tho  tooth 
in  the  latter,  and  thus  produces  ridges  on  the  grinding  surface,  by  which 
their  operation  on  the  food  is  increased ;  in  the  former  it  is  confined  alto- 
gether to  the  surface.  For  further  details  on  this  subject  see  mammalia. 
Tiie  articulation  of  the  lower  jaw  differs  very  remarkably  in  the  two  kinds 
of  animals  :  in  the  carnivorous  it  can  only  move  forward  and  backward  ; 
in  the  herbivorous  it  has,  moreover,  motion  from  side  to  side.  Thus,  we 
observe  in  the  flesh  eaters,  teeth  calculated  only  for  tearing,  and  subser- 
vient in  part,  at  least,  to  the  procuring  of  food  as  well  as  to  purposes 
of  defence,  and  an  articulation  of  the  lower  jaw  that  procludes  all  lateral 
motion  ;  in  those  which  live  on  vegetables  the  form  of  the  teeth  and  na- 
ture of  the  joint  are  calculated  fur  the  lateral  or  grinding  motion;  tha 
former  swallow  the  food  in  masses,  while  in  the  latter  it  undergoes  con- 
siderable comminution  before  it  is  swallowed.  The  teetli  of  man  have 
not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  those  of  the  carnivorous  animals,  except 
that  their  enamel  is  confined  to  tho  external  surface  ;  he  possesses,  indeed, 
teeth  called  canine,  but  they  do  not  exceed  the  level  of  the  othei's,  and 
are  obviously  unsuited  to  the  purposes  vvliich  the  corresponding  teeth 
execute  in  carnivorous  animals.  These  organs,  in  short,  very  closely  re- 
semble the  teeth  of  monkeys,  except  that  the  canine  are  much  longer 
and  stronger  in  the  latter  animals.  In  the  freedom  of  lateral  motion,  the 
lower  jaw  of  tho  human  subject  resembles  that  of  herbivorous  animals. 
In  the  form  of  the  stomach  again,  and,  indeed,  in  the  structure  of  tho 
whole  alimentary  canal,  man  comes  much  nearer  to  the  monkey  than  to 
any  other  animal.  The  length  and  divisions  of  the  intestinal  tube  aro 
very  different,  according  to  the  kind  of  food  employed.  In  the  proper 
carnivorous  animals,  the  canal  is  very  short,  and  the  large  intestine  is 
cylindrical ;  in  the  herbivora,  the  former  is  very  long,  and  there  is  either 
a  complicated  stomach  or  a  very  large  cjecum  and  a  sacculated  colon.  la 
comparing  the  length  of  the  intestines  to  that  of  the  body  in  man,  and  in 
other  animals,  a  difficulty  arises  on  account  of  the  legs,  which  are  ni- 
cluded  in  the  former  and  left  out  in  the  latter ;  hence  the  comparative 
length  of  the  intestinal  tube  is  stated  at  less  than  it  ought  to  be  in  man. 
If  allowance  be  made  for  this  circumstance,  man  will  be  placed  on  nearly 
the  same  line  with  the  monkey  race,  and  will  be  removed  to  a  consider 
able  distance  from  tho  proper  carnivora.  Soemmerring  states,  that  the 
intestinal  canal  of  man  varies  from  three  to  eight  times  the  length  of  tho 
body.  (De  Corp.  Hum.  Tab.  t.  6,  p.  200.)  (See  note,  p.  249  ) 
6 


122  VEGliTJULE    DIKl 

be  guideJ  by  bis  form  and  structure,  in  considering  the  species 
of  food  he  ought  to  use. 

Man,  says  the  flesh  eater,  is  destined  to  be  guided  by  reason ; 
the  animals  by  instinct :  and  this  is  offered  as  a  sufficient  plea 
foi-  his  doing  whatever  he  has  the  power  to  do.  Probably, 
liowevcr,  reason  and  instinct  are  essentially  the  same;  they  are 
but  diiie.ent  modes  of  attaining  the  same  end  :  nor  can  the  for- 
mer be  more  wisely  employed  than  in  rendering  our  habits  con- 
formable to  the  dictates  of  the  latter.  This  was  the  sentiment 
of  our  moral  poet,  who  has  said, 

"  See  him  from  nature  rising  slow  to  art  ? 
To  copy  Instinct  then  was  Reason's  part." 

Essay  on  Man. 

M;in,  it  is  true,  is  or  ought  to  be,  guided  by  reason.  But  no 
guide  can  be  more  fallacious  than  the  individual  reason  of  the 
beings,  which  are,  t:s  it  were,  the  elementaiy  particles  of  human 
society.  Passion,  v/him,  fashion,  imitation,  or  the  fleeting  sen- 
sations of  the  moment,  ai-e  incentives  to  action :  above  all,  cus- 
tom has  erected  a  despotism  over  individual  will,  against  the 
tyranny  of  which  reason  protests  i:i  vain.  How  little  reason 
hcis  been  consulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  common  habits 
of  life  we  may  judge  fiom  consideiing,  that  tlie  habits  of  mo- 
dern life  are  essentially  the  same  as  have  been  transmitted  from 
the  rude  beginnings  of  civilized  society.  The  manner  of  living 
of  a  European  philosopher,  absorbed  in  study  and  meditation^ 
and  of  an  Indian  savage,  destitute  of  reflection  and  of  foresight, 
are  essentially  the  same.  In  what  does  the  banquet  of  an 
English  prince  diflfer  from  tl:e  feast  of  a  chieftain  of  Otaheite, 
unless  it  be  in  the  costliness  of  the  utensils,  or  the  refinements 
of  the  cookery  ?  Fish,  flesh,  and  poultry,  in  each  form  the  fa- 
vorite materials  of  the  re])ast,  which  is  finished  by  the  swallow- 
ing of  potions  of  an  intoxicating  liquor.  What  share  reason 
has  had  in  the  institution  of  these  customs,  I  must  leave  to  their 
advocates  to  explain. 

To  form  clear  conceptions  on  this  subject,  let  us  take  a  sur- 
vey— it  must  of  necessity  be  very  cursory — of  the  natural  pro- 
gress of  human  manners.  We  would  begin  with  the  state  of 
nature  :  but  such  a  state  can  be  found  nowhere  among  the 
inhabitants  of  earth.  We  cannot,  however,  but  suppose  that 
there  has  been  a  primeval  state  of  man,  and  it  is  allowable 
therefore  to  conceive  and  depict  such  a  state. 

The  earth,  while  left  to  its  natural  fertility,  as  is  observed  by 
the  eloquent  and  penetrating  Rousseau,  was  covered  with  im- 
mense forests  who?e  irva^  were  ncvei'  mutilated  by  the  ;^ye, 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES,  123 

but  presented  on  every  side  both  sl^^tenance  and  shelter  for 
every  species  of  animals.  Men  would  among  these  wander  up 
and  down,  and  live  like  them  upon  the  substances  to  which  his 
instinct  would  direct  him,  and  which  his  physical  powers  would 
enable  bin  to  collect.  These  would  probably  be  in  harmony, 
as  Ave  find  them  in  all  other  animals. 

As  man  is  devoid  of  all  natural  clothing,  we  must  suppose 
him  placed  in  tlie  tropical  regions ;  here  the  air  is  always  of  a 
genial  warmtli  ;  the  fertility  of  the  earth  is  abujidant ;  and  it  is 
confined  to  no  particular  season ;  and  the  sl;ade  of  the  trees 
would  protect  him  from  the  oppression  of  a  vertical  sun.  The 
same  trees  which  shelter,  would  yield  the  principal  part  of  his 
sustenance.  Thus  the  fruit  of  trees  would  appear  to  be  the 
most  natural  species  of  diet.  Rousseau  says  it  is  the  most 
abundant ;  as  he  has  convinced  himself  from  having  compared 
the  produce  of  two  pieces  of  land  of  equal  area  and  quality, 
the  one  sown  with  wheat,  and  the  other  planted  with  chesnut 
trees.  "*• 

But  man  would  not  confine  himself  to  fruits,  or  the  produce 
of  trees  ;  he  is  formed  equally  for  climbing,  and  for  walking  on 
the  ground ;  his  eye  may  be  directed  with  equal  ease  to  objects 
above  him,  nnd  on  the  earth.  His  arm  has  a  corresponding 
latitude  of  motion. 

Man  must  have  been  fed  previous  to  the  invention  of  any  art, 
even  the  simple  one  of  making  a  bow  and  arrows.  He  could 
not  then  have  lived  by  prey,  since  all  the  animals  excel  him  in 
swiftness.  There  is  no  antipathy  between  man  and  other  ani- 
mals, whicli  indicates  that  nature  has  intended  them  for  acts 
of  mutual  hostility.  Numerous  observations  of  travelers  and 
voyagers  have  proved,  that  in  uninhabited  islands,  or  in  coun- 
tries where  animals  are  not  disturbca  or  hunted,  they  betray 
no  fear  of  men :  the  birds  will  suffer  themseives  to  be  taken  by 
the  hand  ;  the  foxes  will  approach  him  like  a  dog.  These  are 
no  feeble  indications,  that  nature  intended  him  to  live  in  peace 
with  the  other  tribes  of  animals. f 

Least  of  all  would  instinct  prompt  him  to  use  the  dead  body 
of  an  animal  for  food.     The  sioht  of  it  would  rather  excite  hor- 


&' 


*  The  bread-fruit  tree  appears  to  support  the  most  abundant  popula- 
tion. Doctor  Forster,  comparing  the  parts  of  Otaheite  which  are  best 
cultivated,  with  those  of  France  under  tlie  same  circumstances,  calcu- 
lated the  population,  about  the  year  1771,  to  be  to  that  year  of  the  lat- 
ter, nearly  as  17  to  1. — Forster' s  Observations,  220. 

t  On  this  subject  see  White's  Natural  History  of  Selborne,  vol.  i.  p. 
206,  4to.  D.orwjii's  Zoonomia ;  Chapter  on  Instinct ;  or  Homes's  Sketches 
C>n  Man  ;   f'rt  imhinrv  D!<»couv«e. 


124.  VEGETABLE    DIET 

ror,  compassion,  and  aversion.  In  a  warm  climate,  putrefac- 
tion succeeding  immediately  to  dissolution,  dead  flesh  must 
speedily  diffuse  an  offensive  odor,  and  occasion  insuperable 
loathincr  and  disc^ust. 

Living  wholly  upon  vegetables  without  cuFmary  preparation, 
our  man  of  nature  could  never  experience  thirst.  Even  intense 
heat  does  not  appear  to  excite  thirst,  unless  it  be  upon  bodies 
injured  by  a  depraved  and  unnatural  diet.  He  would  have  no 
call  therefore  to  the  use  of  liquids,  further  than  as  they  are 
contained  in  the  juices  of  the  fruits  and  esculent  plants  which 
he  would  eat.  Drinking  v/ould  be  needless ;  it  is  an  action 
which  does  not  appear  suited  to  the  natural  organization  of 
man  after  the  infant  state. 

Finally,  it  is  highly  probable  that  man  under  these  circum- 
stances, considered  as  a  mere  animal,  would  arrive  at  a  high 
degree  of  physical  perfection ;  that  he  would  have  a  body  duly 
formed,  and  a  robust  frame ;  great  vigor,  great  activity,  and 
uninterrupted  health.  I  cannot  think,  however,  that  this  state 
is  comparable  to  the  benefits  of  civilization ;  such  an  opinion  is 
an  extravagance  which  can  be  maintained  only  from  the  love 
of  paradox  and  singularity.  This  fancied  state  of  nature  ex- 
cludes the  very  notion  of  morality,  and  admits  not  of  intellec- 
tual improvement,  principles  which  form  the  most  proud  dis- 
tinction of  the  human  race. 

Though  this  picture  is  in  a  good  measure  the  creature  of  the 
imagination,  there  having  been  found  no  tribes  of  men  who 
depend  for  their  subsistence  solely  upon  their  physical  powers, 
yet  solitary  examples  have  not  been  unfrequent  in  which  indi- 
viduals have  really  subsisted  by  no  other  means.  Such  are  the 
wild  men,  the  homines  sylvestres  of  Linnaeus,  who  have  been 
found  in  the  forests,  even  in  Europe.  In  intellect  these  did 
not  appear  to  be  superior  to  the  animals,  their  associates ;  which 
must  have  resulted  from  having  been  secluded  from  all  con- 
verse with  their  species.  But  they  were  in  perfect  health,  and 
possessed  incredible  activity.  The^y  could  have  used  nothing 
but  fresh  vegetable  food ;  this  was  the  sort  of  food  of  which 
they  were  the  fondest ;  the  want  of  it  seems  to  have  been  the 
principal  object  of  their  regret,  and  the  motive  for  attempting 
to  return  to  their  accustomed  mode  of  life,  as  they  constantly 
did. 

If  men  ever  lived  nearly  in  the  manner  I  have  described,  it 
is  obvious  that  this  condition  could  not  continue,  ^an  is  by 
nature  gregarious ;  and  has  naturally  both  the  will  and  the 
power  of  con->!nnnicating  his  ideas  by  the  inflections  of  his  voice.. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISE.SES.  125 

I  have  heard  a  child  of  three  months  old  call  for  the  breast  by 
a  distinct  and  pecuhar  note.  Knowledge  must  therefore  spring 
up  and  increase.  Arts  would  be  invented,  and  man  would  call 
his  ingenuity  in  aid  of  his  physical  force.  The  pride  of  reason 
and  the  wantonness  of  power  would  extend  his  dominion,  engen- 
der artificial  wants,  and  make  him  the  enemy  and  the  tyrant  of 
his  more  feeble  and  less  crafty  companions.  No  society  of 
men  has  beeji  observed  in  which  the  procuring  and  preparation 
of  food  has  not  been  a  work  of  some  degree  of  skill  and  inge- 
nuity. The  savage,  the  pastoral,  and  the  agricultural  states 
comprehend  the  principal  forms  of  society  under  which  men 
are  found  to  live. 

The  energies  of  the  savage  are  almost  wholly  absorbed  in 
the  search  of  food ;  the  chase,  and  such  vegetables  as  grow 
spontaneously  being  his  sole  dependence.  The  materials  which 
support  life  being  very  scanty,  population  must  be  proportion- 
ally limited ;  and  war  seems  necessary  to  secure  to  him  the 
undivided  possession  of  his  precarious  means  of  subsistence. 
His  mind  is  congenial  to  his  situation ;  the  hostile  and  furious 
passions  have  uncontrolled  possession  of  his  soul ;  he  delights 
in  the  infliction  of  wounds  and  death;  he  is  a  stranger  to 
remorse,  to  compassion,  and  to  sympathy ;  he  knows  not  the 
charms  of  benevolence ;  even  love  in  his  obdurate  bosom  is  but 
a  transient  spark.  This  state  is,  by  those  who  have  not  very 
definite  ideas  of  things,  confounded  with  the  imaginary  state  of 
nature  ;  and  some  have  concluded,  from  the  vices  of  the  savage 
state,  that  man  is  naturally  cruel,  ferocious,  and  malevolent. 
But  this  state  is  totally  distinct  from  what  must  be  supposed 
to  be  the  state  of  nature.  It  is  one  i^i  which  instinct  is  the  most 
completely  anniliilated,  and  reason  is  the  most  feeble.  The 
qualities  of  the  savage  are  the  direct  result  of  situation  and 
mode  of  life.  If  the  proper  nature  of  man  is  to  be  improvable 
without  limit,  by  the  force  of  intellect,  the  con'dition  of  the 
savage,  so  far  from  being  natural,  is  that  which  recedes  the 
farthest  from  the  state  of  nature. 

The  period  of  individual  existence  appears  in  this  state  to  be 
short.  So  many  are  cut  off  by  violence  (for  their  wars  are 
indiocrimiaate  massacres,  in  which  neither  age  nor  sex  are 
spared),  that  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture  what  proportion 
would  reach  old  age.  But  we  are  assured  by  a  faithful  obser- 
ver of  the  northern  tribes,  that  among  them  a  woman  is  old 
and  wrinkled  at  thirty. 

By  the  simple  arts  of  fencing  in  the  land,  and  preserving  a 
portion  of  the  natural  herbage  for  winter  fodder,  man.  became 


126  VEGETA  ILE    DIET 

enabled  to  domesticate  some  tribes  of  animals.  By  a  regular 
supply  of  food,  the  number  of  these  animals  is  greatly  increas- 
ed, so  that  they  form  a  portion  of  the  artificial  population  of 
cultivated  countries.  Over  Miese  tribes,  he  has  assumed  de- 
spotic power ;  he  uses  their  labor,  and  applies  both  their  milk 
and  their  flesh  to  his  own  sustenance.  Man  then  became  a 
shepherd,  and  by  this  transition  he  very  much  improved  his 
condition.  Food  being  more  abundant,  population  increased  ; 
and  from  an  increased  sense  of  security,  manners  wouJd  become 
less  ferocious.  Still  civilization  would  be  very  imperfect.  All 
the  hordes  of  barbarians,  who  have  desolated  kingdoms  and 
subverted  empires,  were  pastoral  tribes,  drawing  their  chief 
subsistence  from  their  flocks  and  herds. 

Nor  is  it  certain  that  by  giving  life  to  these  new  tribes  of 
animals,  man  has  conferred  upon  them  any  real  blessing.  One 
fact  alone  may  make  us  hesitate  on  this  subjeet.  It  appears 
impossible  to  keep  the  domestic  animals  in  a  state  of  subjection 
without  mutilating  the  males,  excepting  a  few  who  are  pre- 
served for  the  purpose  of  propagation.  It  may  fairly  be  in- 
quired whether  this  shocking  outrage  on  the  common  rights  of 
nature,  this  cutting  asunder  of  the  link  which  connects  the  in- 
dividual with  his  common  species,  does  not  more  than  counter- 
balance all  the  pleasures  which  any  being  may  be  supposed  to 
derrv^e  from  the  mere  enjoyment  of  animal  life. 

The  cultivation  of  the  earth,  and  the  direct  application  of  its 
various  productions  to  human  subsistence,  seems  to  be  the 
limit  of  improvement  in  the  arts  essential  to  the  support  of  life. 
By  the  exercise  of  this  beneficial  art,  myriads  of  human  beings 
are  called  into  life  who  could  otherwise  have  never  existed. 
By  its  introduction,  a  great  revolution  was  commenced  in  the 
relations  of  neighboring  communities.  The  cultivator  being  di- 
rectly interested  in  the  preservation  of  public  tranquillity,  and 
the  causes  which  fostered  hostility  and  rancor  being  removed, 
nations  became  disposed  to  suspend  their  animosities,  and  rather 
to  contribute  to  the  promotion  of  their  mutual  welfare,  which 
became  to  all  a  common  source  of  prosperity.  Internal  order 
became,  too,  as  necessary  as  external  security.  Thus,  peace 
and  the  empire  of  the  law  would  succeed  to  strife,  violence,  and 
anarchy.  It  seems  no  visionary  or  romantic  speculation  to  con- 
jecture that  if  all  mankind  confined  themselves  for  their  sup- 
port to  the  productions  supplied  by  the  culture  of  the  earth, 
war,  with  its  attendant  misery  and  liorrors,  might  cease  to  be 
one  of  the  scourges  of  the  human  race. 

Nor  arc  the  eftects  of  agriculture  less  favorable  to  private 


l\    CHIIUMC    :>ISEASL::?.  127 

happiness  than  to  public  prosperity.  Probably  there  is  not 
one  of  the  real  wants  of  life  which  may  not  be  supplied  directly 
from  the  soil :  food,  clothing,  light,  heat,  the  materials  of 
houses,  and  the  instruments  needful  for  their  construction.  By 
its  means,  not  only  is  population  increased  to  an  indefinite  ex- 
tent, but  the  happiness  of  each  individual  is  greatly  augmented. 
It  multiplies  enjoyments  by  presenting  to  the  organs  an  infinite 
variety  of  new  and  agreeable  impressions,  which  are  of  them- 
selves, to  an  unvitiated  palate,  abundantly  sufficient  for  the 
gratifications  of  sense.  Indeed,  every  taste,  that  is  truly  e.^- 
quisite,  is  afforded  by  the  vegetable  kingdom.  In  a  wretched 
state  of  perversion  must  be  the  digesting  organs  and  palate  of 
the  man  who  has  lost  his  relish  for  these  pure,  simple,  and  in- 
nocent delights.  Agriculture  disseminates  man  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  soil ;  it  diffuses  health,  prosperity,  jo}',  society, 
benevolence ;  from  it  spring  all  the  charities  of  life,  and  it 
makes  a  common  family  of  the  whole  human  race.  If  those 
who  confine  themselves  to  its  precious  gifts  cannot,  without 
other  precautions,  escape  diseases,  these  are  at  least  more  mild 
in  their  form,  and  more  slow  in  their  progress ;  longevity  is 
promoted,  the  final  stroke  is  received  with  tranquillity,  and 
death  is  disarmed  of  its  terrors. 

The  primeval  command  of  the  Deity  to  our  first  parents  was, 
"Subdue  the  earth."  The  labors  of  agriculture  fulfill  this  first 
command,  and  men,  in  their  providing  for  their  own  necessities, 
pay  the  homage  of  obedience  to  the  divine  will.  The  reflect- 
ing mind,  upon  contemplating  the  strict  connection  between  the 
exercise  of  this  art,  and  the  well-being  of  human  society,  can 
hardly  abstain  from  the  inquiry,  Avhether  man  can  perform  any 
act  of  religion  more  grateful  to  the  Author  of  his  existence. 

We  find,  by  looking  on  things  as  they  really  are,  that  in  al- 
most all  societies  of  men,  which  have  attained  any  tolerable 
degree  of  civilization,  in  a  certain  degree  the  arts  of  .all  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  society  continue  to  be  practiced.  Men  hunt 
and  fish,  and  live  partly  upon  the  produce,  be  it  of  their  plea- 
sure or  their  toil.  They  keep  domestic  animals,  and  they  till 
the  earth.  Thus,  in  fact,  the  manners  of  savage,  of  pastoral, 
and  agricultural  life  are  blended  together.  And  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  arts  it  has  so  happened  that  the  things  which,  in  a 
rude  state  of  society,  were  the  most  plentiful,  become  the  most 
scanty ;  and,  inversely,  things  which  could  hardly  be  procured 
in  the  first  stages  of  society  became  gradually  highly  abun- 
dant, and  of  little  relative  value. 

Thus,  in  the  rude  beginnings  of  human  society,  the  flesh  of 


123  VEGETABLE    DIET 

animals  or  fisli  is  obtained  with  infinitely  greater  ease  than  the 
produce  of  the  enrth.  Savages,  and  even  early  colonists,  kill 
animals  for  their  furs  or  their  hides,  their  flesh  being  often  left 
to  perish,  as  of  no  value ;  and  even  in  advanced  stages  of  civili- 
zation, the  price  of  meat  was  either  less  or  equal  to  that  of 
bread.     But  this  proportion  becomes  graduallj^  reversed. 

By  cultivation,  vegetable  productions  become  so  abundant 
as  to  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  mass  of  mankind,  and 
cheaper  than  any  of  the  otlier  substances  which  are  used  as 
food.  Indeed,  according  to  all  the  present  experience  of  man- 
kind, in  free  countries,  vegetable  food  increases  with  the  de- 
mand caused  by  an  increase  of  population,  so  that  this  increase 
is  not  the  cause  but  the  effect  of  increased  population.  All 
apprehensions  of  evil  from  an  over-abundance  of  people,  ap- 
pear, in  European  countries  at  least,  to  be  visionary.  Death 
seems  very  rarely,  even  in  the  poorest  class  of  the  people, 
to  be  caused,  in  ordinary  seasons,  by  a  want  of  food.  Excess, 
and  the  abuse  of  the  gifts  of  Providence,  is  productive  of  much 
more  evil.  It  is  not  the  parsimony  of  Nature  which  is  the  pro- 
lific source  of  vice  and  misery,  but  the  wastefulness  and  prodi- 
gality of  men,  and  the  abuses  resulting  from  an  excessive 
inequality  in  the  distribution  of  wealth — a  distribution  which  is 
as  much  a  misfortune  to  those  who  are  raised  above  the  due 
level  as  those  who  are  sunk  below  it.  To  use  the  energetic 
\anguage  of  our  sublime  and  virtuous  poet,  Milton — 

"  If  every  just  man,  that  now  pines  with  want, 
Had  but  a  moderate  and  beseeming  share 
Of  that  which  lewdly  pampered  luxury 
Now  heaps  upon  some  few  with  vast  excess, 
Nature's  full  blessings  would  be  well  dispensed 
In  unsnperfiuous  even  proportion, 
Awl  she  no  whit  encumbered  with  her  store. 
And  then  the  Giver  would  be  better  thanked, 
His  praise  due  paid ;  for  swinish  gluttony 
Ne'er  looks  to  Heaven  amidst  his  gorgeous  feast, 
But  with  besotted  base  ingratitude 
Crams,  and  blasphemes  his  Feeder." 

But  to  return  to  our  argument.  This  relative  dearness  of 
animal  food,  compared  to  that  of  the  most  common  vegetables, 
making  its  use  a  species  of  privilege  confined  to  persons  in  easy 
circumstances,  the  silly  vanity  of  distinguishing  themselves  from 
the  hard-working  classes  has  conspired  with  the  gratifications 
of  the  palate  to  make  animal  food  to  be  esteemed  by  such  per- 
sons one  of  the  real  necessaries  of  life.  It  is  so  habitual  to 
them,  that  the  greater  part  of  such  persons  think  it  imr^ncc-KiA 


IN    CHRONIC    DISE  vSES.  'IS9 

to  live  without  it,  and  any  proposal  of  the  kind  appears  in  their 
eyes  either  a  monstrous  barbarity  or  a  ridiculous  absurdity. 
They  are  tormented  witb.  imaginary  terrors,  and  they  conceive 
it  to  be  an  experiment  full  of  danger;  though  in  every  period 
of  history  it  has  been  known  that  vegetables  alone  are  sufficient 
for  the  support  of  life,  and  though  the  bulk  of  mankind  live 
upon  them  at  this  hour.  So  perverted  are  the  judgments  of 
men ;  since,  really  (I  speak  it  not  in  the  spirit  of  ridicule  or  of 
asperity,  but  as  a  deduction  from  the  most  simple  survey  of  the 
progress  of  human  manners)  the  adherence  to  the  use  of  animal 
food  is  no  more  than  a  persistence  in  the  gross  customs  of 
savage  life,  and  evinces  an  insensibility  to  the  progress  of  rea- 
son, and  the  operation  of  intellectual  improvement.  This  habit 
must  be  considered  to  be  one  of  the  numerous  relics  of  that 
ancient  barbarism  which  has  overspread  the  face  of  the  globe, 
and  which  still  taints  the  manners  of  civilized  nations. 

Where  reason  has  interfered,  and  has  exercised  any  influence 
on  the  manners  of  men,  its  voice  has  always  been  raised  in 
favor  of  simple  diet.  Some  ancient  legislators  are  said  to  have 
confined  the  diet  of  the  people  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  a 
report  which  is  very  credible  by  what  we  know  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  Hindostan,  and  the  remote  antiquity  to  which  they 
reach. 

Many  sects  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times  have  inculcated 
on  their  adherents  the  same  abstinence  as  a  duty  of  religion. 
The  Romans,  in  the  purer  days  of  the  republic,  favored  the 
same  maxims :  their  Fannian  and  Licinian  laws  limited  the 
allowance  of  animal  food,  while  that  of  vegetable  matter  was 
unrestricted.  But  laws  are  forced  to  bend  to  the  existing  habits 
and  prejudices  of  the  people  for  whom  they  are  made.  A  good 
man  will  reverence  'he  laws  of  his  country.  But  there  is  a  law 
more  sacred,  to  whiUi  he  will  make  his  own  aotions  conform : 
the  voice  of  the  inward  monitor,  which  informs  him  that  he 
should  act  in  all  things  of  moment  according  to  the  dictates 
of  right  reason. 

Can  a  practice  be  conformable  to  reason  which  stifles  the 
best  feelings  of  the  human  heart  ?  By  long  habit  and  fami- 
liarity with  scenes  of  blood,  we  have  come  to  view  them  with- 
out emotion.  But  look  at  a  young  child  who  is  told  that  the 
chicken  which  it  has  fed  and  played  with  is  to  be  killed.  Are 
not  the  tears  it  sheds,  and  the  agonies  it  endures,  the  voice  of 
nature  itself  crying  within  us  and  pleading  the  cause  of  human- 
ity ?  We  cannot  hear  even  a  fly  assailed  by  a  spider  without 
compassion — without  wishing  to  relieve  its  distress,  and  to  re- 
6* 


130  VEGEIABLE    DIET 

pel  its  enemy.  The  coldness  of  philosophical  inquiry  may  per^ 
haps  lead  us  lo  doubt  whether  the  sound  it  emits,  which  is  no 
more  than  a  vibration  of  its  wings,  is  really  an  index  of  pain; 
and  whether  we  ought  not  to  sympathize  as  much  with  the  hun- 
ger of  the  spider  as  with  the  pain  of  the  fly.  The  emotion, 
however,  is  natural  and  unavoidable.  To  suffer  from  tlie  suffer- 
ings of  any  other  sentient  beings,  and  to  have  the  sensibility 
aroused  by  the  expressions  of  suffering,  is,  among  civilized  men, 
an  essential  property  of  human  nature ;  and  a?  such,  it  ought 
surely  to  be  a  law  to  man — a  guide  of  human  conduct. 

How  closely  the  use  of  a  temperate  regimen  is  connected 
Avith  morality  and  with  intellectual  excellence  seems  to  have 
been  perfectly  understood  by  the  masters  of  ancient  wisdom. 
Plato  has  said  that  "  no  one  is  bad  spontaneously  ;  but  that  bad 
morals  proceed  from  some  depraved  habit  of  body,  or  from  neg- 
lected education."  He  must  therefore  have  thought  a  proper 
regimen  to  be  a  fundamental  part  of  a  moral  education.  Indeed, 
he  has  expressly  enumerated  this  among  the  other  instruments 
of  forming  the  human  chai-acter :  *'  Of  much  efficacy  are  the 
customs,  either  pohtical  or  domestic,  in  which  men  are  brought 
up,  and  the  daily  manner  of  life,  either  fortifying  or  corrupting 
the  mind ;  for  exposure  to  the  ah-,  simple  aliments,  gymnastic 
exercises,  and  the  manners  of  associates  have  the  greatest  in- 
fluence in  disposing  either  to  virtue  or  vice." 

It  is  allowed  that  men  should  be  guided  by  reason ;  no  truth 
can  be  more  evident.  But  let  us  well  understand  what  is  meant 
by  the  term.  By  reason  we  cannot  surely  mean  that  feeble 
glimmering  of  light  which  just  enables  the  mass  of  mankind 
to  grope  through  the  gloomy  paths  of  hfe,  and  to  pass  a  few 
fretful  years  in  a  vain  pursuit  of  happiness.  The  reason  of  in- 
dividuals (if,  indeed,  it  deserves  the  name)  is  commonly  just 
sufficient  to  conduct  them  through  the  habitual  occupations  of 
the  day ;  but  the  bulk  of  mankind  are  quite  unable  to  compre- 
hend the  bearings  of  a  complex  argument,  and  still  more  to 
trace  effects  to  their  remote  causes.  Nor  is  this  the  case  with 
the  vulgar  merel}^  for  so  limited  is  the  human  capacity,  thac 
the  most  exalted  genius,  and  the  deepest  powers  of  investiga- 
tion, have  not  been  able  to  raise  their  possessors  above  the 
errors  and  prejudices  of  their  age,  on  the  subjects  which  have 
not  been  made  the  peculiar  objects  of  their  reflections. 

Mankind  have  therefore  had  recourse  to  artificial  aids  to  the 
feebleness  of  individual  reason,  as  the  guides  of  life,  and  the 
preservers  of  the  social  order;  to  the  writings  of  sages;  to 
maxims,  prove  "bs,  and  apothegms  which  condense  as  it  wcro 


IN  CHRONIC  disi:ases.  131 

the  experience  of  ages ;  to  the  institution  of  wholesome  cus- 
toms ;  the  establishment  of  just  laws ;  to  the  sanctions  of  reli- 
gious truth. 

There  is  then  a  superior  and  more  exalted  reason,  which  con- 
sists in  the  perception  of  truths  founded  in  the  constant  relations 
of  things,  in  obedience  to  the  fixed  and  immutable  laws  of 
Nature.  This  is  the  reason  which  has  informed  the  spirit  of 
philosophers,  of  heroes  and  legislators,  of  those  w^ho  have  im- 
proved the  arts  of  life,  or  extended  the  boundaries  of  know- 
ledge. This  reason  we  cannot  but  conceive  to  be  a  kind  of 
emanation  from  the  eternal  fountain  of  truth.  This  the  reason, 
the  empire  of  which  ought  to  be  established  on  earth.  The 
experience  of  the  past  gives  no  very  favorable  omens  for  the 
future ;  but  genuine  philanthrophy  must  prompt  us  to  consider 
its  promotion  as  the  object  the  most  deserving  of  our  exertions, 
directly  tending  to  diffuse  genuine  civilization,  and  all  the  bless- 
ings depending  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


On  the  use  of  spirituous  and  fermented  liquors. — Spices. — Man  by  nature 
not  a  drinking  animal. 

In  the  use  of  animal  food,  man  having  deviated  from  the  sim- 
ple aliment  offered  him  by  the  hand  of  Nature,  and  which  is 
the  best  suited  to  his  organs  of  digestion,  he  has  brought  upon 
himself  a  premature  decay,  and  much  intermediate  suffering 
which  is  connected  with  it.  To  this  habit  almost  all  nations 
that  have  emerged  from  a  state  of  barbarism  have  united  the 
use  of-some  spirituous  and  fermented  liquors.  As  the  course  of 
my  inquiries  has  taken  a  range  somewhat  extensive,  I  have 
thought  it  right  not  wholly  to  overlook  the  effects  of  these 
liquors  on  the  human  body  ;  but  having  little  that  is  original  to 
offer  on  the  subject,  it  shall  be  comprised  in  as  few  words  as 
possible. 

The  use  of  fermented  liquors  is,  in  some  measure,  a  neces- 
sary concomitant  and  appendage  to  the  .ise  of  animal  food. 
Animal  food,  in  a  great  number  of  persons,  loads  the  stomach, 
causes  some  degree  of  oppression,  fullness,  and  uneasiness,  and 
if  the  measure  of  it  bo  in  ?xce.:5,  some  nausea,  and  tendency 


132  VEGETABLE    DIET 

to  sickness.  Such  persons  say,  meat  is  too  heavy  for  their 
stomach.  Fish  is  sti-U  more  apt  to  nauseate.  We  find  that  the 
use  of  fermented  liquors  takes  off  these  uneasy  feelings.  It  is 
thought  to  assist  the  digestion.  Probably,  its  real  utility  arise? 
from  the  strong,  and  at  the  same  time  agreeable,  impression  li 
makes  on  the  stomach,  which  counteracts  the  uneasiness  aris- 
ing from  the  solid  part  of  our  aliment.  Thus  the  food  sits 
lighter  on  the  stomach,  and  digestion  goes  on  more  com- 
fortably. 

It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  determine  the  question  of  the  sa- 
lubrity or  insalubrity  of  these  liquors  from  the  evidence  and 
pretended  experience  of  those  who  use  them.  Very  many  per- 
sons have  enjoyed  improved  health  from  the  total  abandonment 
of  all  fermented  liquors,  and  confining  themselves  to  water. 
These  are,  of  course,  enemies  of  fermented  liquors,  and  preach- 
ers of  temperance.  But  others,  again,  assert,  with  the  same 
confidence,  that  they  receive  benefit  from  a  moderate  use  of 
these  liquors,  and  even  that  they  cannot  live  without  them.  I 
do  not  see  why  these  persons  are  not  as  worthy  of  credit  as 
their  opponents.  They  must  be  supposed  to  give  a  faithful 
account  of  l*heir  own  feehngs  at  least.  This  conflicting  testi- 
mony, like  so  many  others  with  regard  to  the  operation  of  sub- 
stances upon  the  human  body,  is  an  additional  proof  that,  in 
such  investigation,  we  must  look  beyond  the  primary  effect  of 
things,  and  can  determine  little  or  nothing  from  the  agreeable 
or  uneasy  feelings  which  may  immediately  arise  from  them. 
For  the  ultimate  effect  (which  it  is  of  the  most  consequence 
to  determine),  we  must  have  recourse  to  some  more  correct 
criteiion. 

Perhaps  the  oppugners  of  fermented  liquors  weaken  their  in- 
fluence by  pushing  their  hostility  too  far,  and  contradicting  the 
common  experience  of  mankind.  They  deny  that  such  liquors 
give  strength,  and  use  some  refined  arguments  to  establish  their 
doctrine.  The  bodily  strength  furnished  by  beer.  Dr.  Franklin 
said,  can  only  be  in  proportion  to  the  solid  part  of  the  barley 
dissolved  in  the  water ;  and  from  this  he  argued,  that  a  penny 
loaf  would  give  more  strength  than  a  pint  of  beer.  But  men 
will  not  be  so  talked  out  of  their  feelings.  Universal  experience 
shows,  undoubtedly,  that  fermented  liquors,  used  in  modera- 
tion, commonly  augment  for  a  time  the  muscular  strength. 
And  hence  we  are  taught,  that  stimulation  causes  iemporary 
strength. 

In  fact,  food  itself  raises  the  muscular  strength,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  application  to  the  surface  of  the  stomach ;  for  we 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  133 

feel  stronger  immediately  after  eating,  and  before  the  food  is 
digested,  or  absorbed  into  the  sanguiferous  system.  All  the 
muscles  of  the  body  sympathize  with  this  membrane. 

Fermented  liquors  raise  the  strength  by  impressing  the  brain 
in  a  manner  analogous  to  animal  food.  For,  like  animal  food, 
they  increase  the  color  of  the  face,  which  is  an  index  that  they 
excite  and  stimulate  all  the  small  vessels  of  the  brain.  Mr. 
Strutt,  in  his  View  of  Manners  and  Customs  (cited  by  Dr. 
Beddoes),  quotes  a  play  of  the  time  of  Henry  the  Eighth  or 
Elizabeth,  in  which  a  citizen  declares  he  has  sent  his  daughter 
in  a  morning  as  far  as  Pimlico,  "  to  get  a  draught  of  ale  to  put 
a  color  into  her  cheeks."  This  increase  of  color  passes  for  a 
sign  of  increased  health. 

But  to  estimate  the  effects  of  these  substances,  we  must  look 
at  the  whole  of  their  properties.  The  first  and  most  important 
of  these  properties  is,  that  they  diminish  the  appetite  and  im- 
pair the  powers  of  digestion.  Water  drinkers  are  well  known 
to  have  much  keener  appetites  than  the  drinkers  of  beer.  This 
is  commonly  used  as  a  proof  of  the  wholesomeness  of  water, 
but  it  really  shows  only  the  noxious  power  of  beer.  Low  wo- 
men of  unprincipled  habits  give  gia  even  to  their  infants,  that 
they  may  eat  less  bread.  It  is  clear,  from  these  facts,  that 
fermented  liquors  sap  und  undermine  the  very  sources  of  hfe. 
All  permanent  health  and  strength  must  be  derived  from  a 
sound  stomach  and  perfect  digestion  of  the  food. 

Fermented  liquors  have  also  a  strong  narcotic  power. 
Though  they  do  not  cause  sleep  (at  least  with  the  same  power 
and  certainty  as  opium),  they  remarkably  diminish  the  sensi- 
bility of  the  nervous  system.  Hence  they  destroy  and  diminish 
many  uneasy  feelings.  They  take  off  the  uneasiness  of  hunger, 
the  uneasiness  of  la-ssitude,  and  the  uneasiness  of  cold.  These 
are  some  of  the  greatest  evils  that  the  pow  man  suffers,  and,  in 
consequence,  he  flies  to  the  use  of  spirits,  heedless  or  ignorant 
of  the  ultimate  consequence.  To  so  great  a  degree  is  the  sen- 
sibility of  the  body  impaired  by  spirits,  that  a  drunkard  has 
been  known  to  cut  off  his  fingers  in  a  tit  of  intoxication,  with- 
out apparent  suffering,  and  with  no  reeollection  of  what  had 
happened  ^when  the  drunken  fit  was  over. 

Besides  this  great,  and,  as  it  were,  violent  diminution  of  sen- 
sibility, under  the  immediate  impression  of  fermented  liquors, 
there  appears  also  to  be  a  permanent  diminution  of  sensibility, 
in  pei'sons  habitually  using  them,  which  extends  to  all  the  or- 
gans, ■  The  spirit  undergoes  no  change  in  the  stomach,  but  iu 
is  absorbed  into  the  circulating  mass ;  it  is  applied  to  the  wholo 


ISi  \EGETABLE    DIET 

body,  and  is  finallj^  eliminated  by  all  the  excretory  organs.  If 
therefore  they  arc  habitually  used,  the  body  is  constantly  under 
their  influence  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  The  well-known 
fact,  that  persons  who  abstain  from  fermented  liquors  have  a 
much  greater  delicacy  of  taste  than  those  of  opposite  habits, 
may  be  cited  as  a  proof  that  the  sensibility  of  the  latter  is  rad- 
ically impaired.  What  is  true  of  the  tongue  and  palate  is 
true,  probably,  of  the  whole  nervous  system. 

Observations  on  savao-es  illustrates  this  fact  more  stronulv. 
They  have  been  often  observed  to  have  a  much  gr(3ater  perfec- 
tion of  the  senses,  as  of  the  eyesight  and  hearing,  than  Euro- 
peans usually  possess.  As  the  fact  is  sufficiently  well  known, 
it  will  be  enough  to  cite  a  single  observation  in  proof  of  it.  A 
writer,  mentioning  a  native  of  New  Zealand,  named  Moy- 
hanger,  says  of  him,  "  It  w^as  worthy  of  remark  how  much  his 
sight  and  hearing  were  superior  to  other  persons  on  board  the 
ship ;  the  sound  of  a  distant  gun  was  distinctly  heard,  or  a 
strange  sail  readily  discernible  by  Moyhanger,  when  no  other 
man  could  hear  or  perceive  them."  ]Sow  it  certainly  has  never 
appeared  that  negroes,  or  savages  of  any  sort,  brought  to 
Europe,  and  conforming  to  European  manners,  enjoy  this  oi 
any  other  superiority  over  other  persons.  There  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  that  there  is  no  physical  difference  between  the 
different  tribes  of  mankind,  except  w^hat  is  the  result  of  differ- 
ent habits.  As  the  tribe  we  are  now  considering  used  both 
flesh  and  fish  in  as  great  abundance  as  Europeans,  the  great 
superiority  of  the  senses  which  the  savage  tribes  enjoy  cannot, 
with  any  probability,  be  attributed  to  any  other  cause  than 
to  their  being  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  fermented  liquors. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  as  large  quantities  of  fer- 
mented liquors  are  highly  deleterious,  producing  a  total  loss  of 
muscular  power,  and  an  abolition  nearly  complete  of  all  sensa- 
tion ;  as  tliese  symptoms  are  not  unfrequently  fatal,  the  suspicion 
appears  very  just,  that  the  perpetual  ingurgitation  of  sucb  mat- 
ters cannot  be  innocent,  however  moderate  the  quantity  may 
be ;  and  that  ail  the  pleasure  or  the  comfort  which  persons 
derive  from  such  habits  are  gained  at  the  ultimate  expense  of 
their  health,  and  the  abbreviation  of  their  lives. 

It  appears  then  that  the  advantages  experienced  from  fer- 
mented liquors,  and  from  animal  food,  are  subject  to  the  same 
limitations,  and  regulated  by  the  same  laws.  There  are  many 
diseases  of  debility  in  which  the  radical  strength  of  the  consti- 
tution is  unimpaired,  and  its  powers  adequate  to  the  restoration 
of  health.    In  such  diseases  the  stimulus  of  animal  food  and  of 


IN    fcllRONIC    DISEASES.  135 

feimented  liquors  may  have  no  sensible  injuiy,  or  even  may 
produce  great  apparent  advantajres.  But  they  mus  aggravate 
all  habitual  and  constitutional  diseases.  The  relie:'  from  pam 
or  uneasiness  which  they  procure  is  induced  only  by  a  species 
of  stupefaction ;  and  the  strengtli  tliat  they  give  is  from  stimu- 
lation merely,  and  induces  premature  and  permanent  weakness. 
In  all  diseases  tending  to  death,  and  in  which  therefore  there 
must  be  a  radical  loss  of  power,  this  stimulation  must  do  harm. 
It  excites  action,  which  must  further  impair  the  strength  and 
accelerate  the  fatal  issue  of  the  disease. 

This  is  a  distinction  which  ought  never  for  a  single  moment 
to  be  out  of  view.  A  want  of  attention  to,  or  ignorance  of  the 
opposite  effects  of  tlie  same  treatment  in  different  states  of  the 
constitution,  is  what  causes  such  diversity  of  opinion  and  in- 
consistent practices.  A  feeble  child,  with  some  external  scrofu- 
lous disorder,  for  example,  is  made  to  use  animal  food  and 
wine.  Its  color  improves  ;  it  grows  stronger ;  and  if  the  dis- 
order is  unaffected,  the  child  at  least  appears  in  better  health. 
The  same  practice  therefore  is  transferred  to  another  child,  also 
said  to  be  scrofulous,  but  with  some  much  more  formidable  dis- 
ease— a  white  swelling  we  may  say,  or  a  psoas  abscess.  Here 
it  is  impossible  but  this  practice  must  be  highly  noxious.  The 
inherent  powers  of  the  system  are  weakened ;  and  mere  stimu- 
lation can  never  impart  radical  'strength.  On  the  contrary,  it 
abbreviates  life ;  and  the  mischief  done  must  in  such  cases  be 
very  great  and  very  sensible. 

The  habitual  use  of  fermented  liquors  is  a  cause  of  destruc- 
tion sufficient  of  itself  to  counteract  all  the  good  effects  of  diet 
by  no  means  insalubrious,  and  of  situation  which  is  more  than 
commonly  healthful.  In  the  Pays  de  Vaud,  in  Switzerland, 
half  who  are  born  Hve  to  forty-one.  Very  nearly  a  fourth 
part  live  to  three  years  of  age,  the  great  mortality  being  in  the 
first  year.  But  notwithstanding  these  strong  indications  of 
general  salubrity,  after  forty  the  probabilities  of  living  in  this 
country  decrease  very  fast ;  and  after  sixty-five  they  appear  to 
be  rather  lower  than  is  common.  "Mr.  Muret,"  Dr.  Price 
observes,  "has  taken  notice  of  this  fact,  and  ascribes  it  to 
the  particular  prevalence  of  drunken'iess  in  his  country.  He 
had,"  he  says,  "  once  ths  curiosity  to  examine  the  register  of 
deaths  in  one  town,  and  to  mark  those  whose  deaths  might  be 
imputed  to  drunkenness,  and  he  fecund  the  number  so  great  as 
to  incline  him  to  believe  that  hard  drinking  kills  more  of  man- 
kind than  pleurisies  and  fevers,  and  all  the  most  malignant  dis- 
tempers." 


136  rEGETABLE    DIET 

The  species  of  torpor  or  impaired  sensibility,  which  I  have 
attributed  to  the  use  of  fermented  hquors,  is  not  a  consequence 
of  this  practice  only.  Animal  food  produces  it  likewise,  a^j  is 
obvious  from  the  improvement  of  the  senses  consequent  upon 
relinquishing  it,  and  using  vegetable  food  only.  As  the  putres- 
cent matter  or  Septic  Poison  of  water  is  powerful  enough  to 
induce  palsy  (as  I  shall  show  hereafter),  this  substance,  it  is 
evident,  must  have  an  analogous  effect.  We  may  extend  this 
remark  to  the  digesting  powers.  The  disuse  of  fermented 
liquors,  the  relinquishment  of  animal  food,  and  the  use  of  puri- 
fied water,  all  increase  the  appetite  and  appear  to  strengthen 
the  digestion.  We  may  conclude  then,  that  fermented  liquors, 
animal  food,  and  impure  water  injure  the  digesting  powers. 
The  same  observation  may  be  applied  to  the  secreting  powers, 
and  the  derangement  of  the  other  functions  of  the  body. 

It  must  follow  from  these  facts  that  these  effects  of  dimin- 
ishing the  sensibility  of  the  nervous  system,  impairing  the  di- 
gestion, and  deranging  the  other  functions  of  the  body  are  not 
to  be  deemed  specific  effects  of  these  peculiar  matters.  The)'- 
are  rather  to  be  deemed  common  effects  and  common  signs  of 
an  injured  vitality;  and  it  seems  probable  that  any  applications 
or  agents  whatever,  which  diminish  the  powers  of  life  and  tend 
ultimately  to  destroy  them,  would  have  similar  intermediate 
effects. 

•^  This  leads  me  to  remark  that  the  specific  effects  of  fermented 
liquors  upon  the  body  have  not  been  hitherto  precisely  deter- 
mined. At  least  the  diseases  which  are  ascribed,  and  with  great 
justice,  to  spirituous  potations,  often  occurring  where  this  evil 
custom  cannot  be  traced,  it  is  obvious  to  suspeet  that  the 
liquors  are  not  the  sole  agents,  but  are  to  be  esteemed  only  as 
an  accelerating  and  concurring  cause  in  the  production  of  these 
diseases. 

Physicians  assert  that  the  use  of  fermented  liquors  occasions 
dropsy,  epilepsy,  palsy,  insanity,  and  other  the  greatest  calami- 
ties incident  to  human  nature.  A  multitude  of  observations 
which  are  constantly  occurring  to  any  man  who  looks  round 
him,  give  great  probability  to  these  opinions.  For  example,  I 
was  well  acquainted  v/ith  a  gentleman  who  had  been  afflicted 
for  eight  years  or  more  with  the  most  acute  and  agonizing  pains 
of  the  stomach  attended  with  sickness  and  vomiting,  and  recur- 
ring at  intervals.  These  pains  finally  ceased  from  no  other 
cause,  as  far  as  it  could  be  ascertained,  than  his  becoming 
much  more  temperate,  and  wholly  relinquishing  the  use  of 
spirits  and  water.    Another  person  whom  I  well  knew,  a  large. 


IN    CHRONJC    DISEASES.  137 

full  man,  advanced  in  years,  was  subject  to  attacks  very  nearly 
approaching  to  apoplexy.  He  lived  in  Herefordshire,  and 
drank  much  cider.  One  year  the  crop  of  apples  totally  failed ; 
and  the  man  being  in  reduced  circumstances,  his  supply  of 
cider  failed  likewise.  The  consequence  was  that  during  this 
time  he  escaped  his  customary  attacks. 

Still,  however,  as  these  great  diseases  cannot  be  warded  o9 
by  the  strictest  temperance,  they  cannot  be  deemed  the  specific 
effect  of  the  poison  of  alcohol,  but  rather  must  be  regarded  as 
the  ultimate  effect  of  various  and  concurring  morbific  powers, 
acting  on  different  persons  according  to  the  susceptibility  and 
predisposition  of  each  individual.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  every  agent  has  a  distinct  and  pecuhar  effect  as  well  as  a 
general  effect.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  these  should  be  duly 
defined.  But  I  do  not  feel  competent  to  this  task,  nor  to  elu- 
cidate the  peculiar  agency  of  each  matter,  further  than  by  a  rela- 
tion of  the  facts,  which  I  propose  to  form  the  sequel  of  this  work. 

That  fermented  liquors  should  be  deleterious,  induce  disease, 
and  shorten  life,  is  so  far  from  affording  a  reasonable  ground  of 
complaint  against  the  order  of  nature,  that  it  is  a  proof  of  the 
wisdom  and  beneficence  of  the  over-ruHng  Power.  Were  it 
otherwise,  the  rich  would  be  enabled  absolutely  to  starve  the 
poor,  by  their  wasteful  consumption  of  the  articles  of  first 
necessity.  To  make  a  pint  of  wine,  I  suppose  at  least  three  or 
four  pounds  of  grapes  are  used,  enough  amply  to  support  a 
man  for  a  day.  The  man,  therefore,  who  drinks  only  his  pint 
of  wine  daily,  uses  his  own  proper  quantity  of  food,  and  destroys 
at  the  same  time  what  might  have  been  the  food  of  another 
man.  As  the  power  of  swallowing  down  wine  is  almost  un- 
limited, to  what  an  extent  would  this  mischief  spread,  if  it  did  not 
find  its  natural  boundary  in  the  destruction  of  life  which  such 
habits  occasion  ?  All  but  the  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  those 
living  by  their  sufferance,  would  b«  swept  from  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  Property  under  such  circumstances  would  be  an 
evil  wholly  insufferable. 

T]|ie  distilleries  are  reckoned  servicable  as  being  a  resource 
against  famine  in  unfavorable  seasons.  But  are  not  the  evils 
which  they  induce  much  greater  than  those  which  they  are 
thought  to  counteract  ?  Do  they  not  keep  up  a  perpetual 
famine  among  the  wives  and  families  of  thousands  of  mechanics, 
by  the  dissolute  habits  of  the  fathers  which  they  engender,  the 
loss  of  health,  and  early  deaths  ?  To  convert  the  bread  of  the 
poor  into  poison,  of  all  the  abuses  of  the  bounties  of  Providence, 
is  the  most  flagrant  and  abominable. 


138  VEGEIABLE    DIET 

I  must  repeat  on  tliis  what  has  been  ah-eadv  asserted  with 
regard  to  other  morbific  agents,  that  its  action  ,s  not  the  less 
real  because  it  is  slow,  and  the  impression  for  a  time  is  hardly 
perceptible.  A  wine  drinker,  on  hearing  his  favorite  liquor 
called  a  slow  poison,  is  reported  to  have  replied,  '*  A  very  slow 
poison  indeed  ;  I  have  used  it  daily  these  fifty  years,  and  it 
has  not  killed  me  yet."  And  this  is  thought  to  be  a  very  tri- 
umphant answer.  But  the  same  defence  may  be  made  of 
every  bad  habit  whatever.  Many  bear  them  with  impunity, 
which  proves,  not  the  sahibrity  of  the  habit,  but  the  flinty 
hardiness  of  a  constitution  with  which  they  are  blessed. 

The  objections  which  are  urged  against  the  use  of  fermented 
liquors  do  not  seem  applicable  to  spices.  However  hot  and 
fiery  these  are  in  the  mouth,  they  do  not  appear  to  be  delete- 
rious. Tliey  do  not  derange  the  brain,  nor  stupefy  the  nervous 
system ;  they  do  not  even  appear  to  heat  the  body,  nor  greatly 
to  accelerate  the  pulse.  There  cannot,  therefore,  be  any  ob- 
jection to  the  moderate  use  of  such  substances.  The  experi- 
ence and  opinions  of  Mr.  Bruce  on  this  subject  are,  I  think, 
worthy  of  attention,  though  not  so  immediately  applicable  to 
our  own  climate  as  to  fhe  more  tropical  regions.  This  writer 
asks  : 

**But  did  they  ever  feel  themselves  heated  by  ever  so  great 
a  quantity  of  black  pepper  ?  Spirits,  they  think,  substituted 
for  this,  answer  the  same  purpose.  But  does  not  the  heat  of 
your  skin,  the  violent  pain  in  your  head,  while  the  spirits  are 
filtering  through  the  vessels  of  your  brains,  show  the  differ- 
ence ?  When  did  any  ever  feel  a  like  sensation  from  black 
pepper,  or  any  pepper  eaten  to  excess  in  every  meal  ? 

"  I  lay  it  down,  then,  as  a  positive  rule  of  health,  that  the 
warmest  dishes  the  natives  delight  in  are  the  most  wliolesome 
strangers  can  use  in  the  putrid  climates  of  Lower  Arabia,  Abys- 
sinia, Senaar,  and  Egypt  itself,  and  that  spirits  and  all  fer- 
mented liquors  should  be  regarded  as  poisons." 

Having  condemned  water,  and  attempted  to  show  experi- 
mentally its  noxious  influence  upon  the  system  ;  having  con- 
demned spirituous  and  fermented  liquors,  from  the  authority 
of  the  most  enlightened  medical  writers  and  the  common  ex- 
perience of  mankind,  it  must  follow  that  therz  is  no  species  of 
drinking  which  I  approve.  And,  indeed,  I  have  already  ven- 
tured to  assert  that  all  drinking  is  an  unnatural  habit ;  in  other 
words,  that  man  is  not  naturally  a  drinking  animal. 

To  those  who  cannot  raise  their  views  above  the  passing 
scene,  who  think  that  human  nature  must  necessarily^ be  in 


IN    CHRC  VIC    DfrfE     «E3.  139 

every  situation  the  same  as  they  observe  it  in  their  ow"  town 
or  village;  to  those,  in  short,  who  look  for  knoAvledge  in  the 
prattling  of  the  drawing-room,  or  the  gossip  of  the  grocer's 
shop,  I  know  that  this  appears  a  strange,  if  not  a  ridiculous 
assertion.  We  say,  with  great  confidence,  that  water  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  both  to  man  and  beast.  But  the  strength  of 
the  evidence  is  not  equal  to  the  positiveness  of  the  assertion. 

In  fact,  we  know  very  httle  about  the  habits  of  animals,  except 
of  those  whose  natures  we  have  changed  and  corrupted  by  do- 
mestication. All  that  the  natural  historian  can  do  with  regard 
to  the  wild  species,  is  to  describe  their  forms,  and  such  of  their- 
qualities  as  have  fallen  under  observation ;  these  last  must  of 
necessity  be  very  imperfect.  Imperfect,  however,  as  it  is,  we 
know  en;ugh  to  be  certain  that  the  assertion  of  the  necessity 
of  the  use  of  water  to  animals  is,  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is 
carried,  absolutely  groundless. 

"  I  have  known  an  owl  of  this  species,"  (the  brown  owl) 
says  M.  White,  "  live  a  full  year  without  any  Avater.  Perhaps 
the  case  may  be  the  same  with  all  birds  of  prey."  There 
was  a  Llama  of  Peru  shown  in  London,  a  year  or  two  ago, 
which  lived  wholly  without  liquids  ;  it  would  not  touch  water. 
In  some  of  the  small  islands  on  our  coast,  on  which  there  is  not  a 
drop  of  water  to  be  found,  there  are,  I  am  told,  rabbit-warrens. 
Bruce  says,  "That  although  Zimmer  (an  island  of  the  Red  Sea) 
is  said  to  be  without  water,  yet  there  are  antelopes  upon  it,  and 
also  hyenas  in  numbers."  To  account  for  this,  he  suspects  that 
there  must  be  water  in  some  subterraneous  caves  or  clefts  of 
the  rocks.  This,  however,  is  only  supposition.  The  argali,  or 
wild  sheep,  from  the  country  in  which  it  is  found,  it  is  certain, 
does  not  drink.  Mr.  Pallas  says  of  it,  "  This  animal  lives  upon 
desert  mountains,  which  are  dry  and  without  wood,  and  upon 
rocks  where  there  are  many  bitter  and  acrid  plants."  He  fur- 
ther says  of  it,  "  There  are  no  deer  so  wild  as  the  argali ;  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  come  near  it  in  hunting.  They  have  an 
astonishing  lightness  and  quickness  in  the  chase,  and  they  hold 
it  a  long  time."  How  wonderfull}^  therefore,  is  this  animal 
deteriorated  by  domestication,  and  by  being  forced  to  live  ia 
situations  and  to  adopt  habits  unsuited  to  its  nature  ! 

Let  us  therefore  consider  man  again,  for  a  moment,  as  we 
may  suppose  him  fresh  from  the  hands  of  his  Maker,  and  de- 
pending upon  his  physical  powers  only  for  his  subsistence.  We 
must  suppose  every  animal  so  circumstanced,  to  be  furnished  by 
nature  with  organs  suited  to  its  physical  necessities.  Now  I 
sec  that  man  has  the  head  elevated  above  the  ground,  and  to 


140  VEGETABLE    DIET 

bring  the  mouth  to  the  earth  requh-es  a  strahied  and  a  painful 
effort.  Moreover,  the  mouth  is  flat  and  the  nose  prominent, 
circumstances  which  make  the  effort  still  more  difficult.  la 
this  position  the  act  of  swallowing  a  fluid  is  so  painful  and  con- 
strained that  it  can  hardly  be  performed.  He  has  therefore  no 
organ  which  is  naturally  suited  to  drinking.  He  cannot  even 
convey  a  fluid  into  his  mouth  without  the  aid  of  some  artificial 
instrument.  The  artifice  is  very  simple,  it  is  true.  But  still 
the  body  must  be  nourished  anterior  to  all  artificial  knowledge. 
Nature  seems  therefore  fully  to  have  done  her  part  toward 
keeping  n*.en  from  the  use  of  liquids.  And  doubtless  on  a  diet 
of  fruits  and  recent  vegetables  there  would  be  no  thirst,  and  no 
necessity  for  the  use  of  liquids. 

If  it  be  true  therefore  that  other  animals  require  water,  it 
would  not  folloAv  that  man,  whose  organization  is  different, 
would  require  it  likewise.  But  we,  in  fact,  know  very  little  of 
the  habits  of  animals.  Our  common  domestic  animals  certainly 
drink.  But  it  appears,  as  far  as  my  information  extends,  that 
common  water  has  the  same  effect  upon  them  as  upon  man ; 
and  that  they  are  more  or  less  healthy,  according  to  the  purity 
of  the  water  which  they^se.* 

*  Many  writers  have  observed  the  deleterious  effect  of  water  on  our 
domestic  animals.  The  following  passage,  from  the  Encyclopedia  Me- 
thodique,  is  quoted  in  Sir  .John  Sinclair's  Code  of  Health,  vol.  iii. :  "  Vitru- 
vius  informs  us  that  the  ancients  inspected  the  livers  of  animals,  in  order 
to  judge  of  the  nature  of  the  water  of  a  country,  and  the  salubrity  of  its 
nutritive  productions.  From  this  source  they  derived  instruction  respect- 
ing the  choice  of  the  most  advantageous  situations  for  building  cities.  The 
size  and  condition  of  the  liver  is,  in  fact,  a  pretty  sure  indication  of  the 
unhealthiness  of  particular  grounds,  and  of  the  deleterious  quality  of  the 
water,  which,  especially  when  it  is  stagnant,  produces  in  cows,  and  par- 
ticularly in  sheep,  fatal  diseases  that  have  often  their  seat  in  the  fiver; 
as,  for  instance,  the  rot,  which  frequently  destroys  whole  flocks  in  marshy 
countries.  The  spleen  is  also  a  viscus  very  apt  to  be  aflfected  by  these 
qualities." — Halle,  Hygiene. 

In  a  work  on  agriculture,  by  Hogg,  the  Ettric  Shepherd,  it  is  asserted 
that  if  it  be  tried  to  rear  young  lambs  in  the  winter,  upon  hay  and  water, 
they,  for  the  most  part,  die.  But  if  they  are  supplied  with  fresh  suocu' 
lent  food,  they  live  and  thrive. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  141 


PART  SECOND. 


CASES  AND  OBSERVATIONS. 

In  the  foregoing  remarks  I  have  considered  the  effects  of  our 
ahment  in  general,  without  any  regard  to  the  immediate  condi- 
tion of  the  system  as  to  health  or  disease.  If  many  of  the  sub- 
stances so  applied  are  morbific  causes,  though  only  ultimately 
and  remotely,  it  cannot  but  belong  to  prudent  foresight  and 
prospective  wisdom  to  avoid  them.  But  the  rules  for  the  pre- 
servation of  health  and  avoiding  diseases,  though  always  esteem- 
ed a  branch,  and  a  most  important  branch  of  medicine,  are  rarely 
demanded  of  the  physician,  except  in  cases  of  obvious  and  im- 
minent hazard.  As  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  on  these  highly 
interesting  subjects  many  gross  errors  and  many  deep-rooted 
prejudices  pervade  the  mass  of  mankind,  hopes  may  be  enter- 
tained that,  as  the  understandings  of  men  become  enlightened, 
beneficial  changes  may  be  introduced  into  the  general  habit^ 
of  society.  This  is,  however,  a  remote,  and  not  a  very  cheering 
prospect;  But  to  do  all  that  is  within  the  feeble  powers  of 
individual  exertion  to  diffuse  knowledge,  and  the  blessings  which 
follow  in  its  train,  is  no  more  than  striving  to  pay  that  immense 
debt  which  every  one  owes  to  the  community'-,  who  has  received 
from  the  sufferance  of  his  fellow-men  tlie  exemption  from  ser- 
vile and  laborious  occupations,  and  the  inestimable  advantage 
of  mental  cultivation. 

It  belongs  more  to  the  immediate  duty  of  the  physician  to 
consider  how  far  the  principles  which  have  been  laid  down  war- 
rant a  change  in  the  treatment  of  diseases,  particularly  those 
which  are  chronical,  and  upon  which  medicine  has  little  influence, 
and  to  determine  what  are  the  advantages  which  experience 
authorizes  us  to  expect  from  the  proposed  change. 

Whatever  may  be  the  effects  upon  the  human  body  of  the 
substances  which,  though  received  at  short  successive  intervals, 
are  continually  applied   to  the  organs,  in  the  form  of  food  and 


112  VEGETABLE    DIET 

drink,  it  is  obvious  that  they  cannot  be  estimated  as  we  would 
calculate  the  forces,  and  percussions,  and  motions  of  inert  mat- 
ter. The  body  is  a  self-moving  machine,  subject  to  its  own 
peculiar  laws,  and  though  to  keep  up  the  succession  of  motions 
and  sensations,  and  the  integrity  of  tlie  powers  which  are  essen- 
tia] to  and  which  constitute  a  living  system,  the  application  of 
the  peculiar  stimuli  of  the  various  organs  is  necessary,  still  there 
are  inherent  properties  of  the  body  as  a  whole,  of  each  peculiar 
organ,  the  totality  of  which  constitute  that  whole,  and  even  of 
every  individual  molecule  of  the  living  mass.  Upon  a  machine 
so  constituted  and  so  complicated  do  the  stimuli  act ;  and  to 
gain  any  insight  into  their  effects,  we  must  consider  the  pro- 
perties of  the  substance  acted  upon,  as  well  as  the  nature  of 
the  agents. 

The  living  body  itself  is  not  only  endowed  with  peculiar  pro- 
perties at  any  given  moment  of  its  existence,  but  it  is  also  in  a 
constant  state  of  change,  both  in  its  powers  and  in  its  materials. 
The  irritability,  mobility,  and  sensibility  of  the  various  organs 
are  never  uniform  during  any  two  successive  portions  of  time ; 
and  at  periods  considerably  distant  the  change  is  more  strongly 
marked.  The  whole  mass  of  the  system,  the  materials  of  which 
the  body  is  composed,  are  likewise  in  a  constant  state  of  flux, 
so  that  after  a  certain  lapse  of  time  there  is  a  total  change  of 
matter  under  an  identity  of  form.  I  suspect  that  the  laws  ac- 
cording to  which  these  changes  take  place  have  not  been  suffi- 
siently  adverted  to,  and  fhat  some  insight  may  be  gained  into 
the  origin,  phenomena,  and  periods  of  diseases  by  a  more  strict 
consideration  of  them. 

The  circumstances  to  which  I  have  adverted  create  a  consid- 
erable difficulty  in  conducting  an  inquiry,  by  the  way  of  experi- 
ment, on  the  effects  of  regimen,  or  peculiar  modes  of  living, 
upon  the  body,  either  in  disease  or  health.  This  difficulty  is 
increi\§ed  by  the  original  varieties  of  the  human  constitution,  so 
ihat,  upon  the  whole,  it  becomes  extremely  hazardous  to  trans- 
fer the  result  of  one  trial  to  other  cases  of  a  different  nature,  or 
even  of  the  same,  and  where  the  appearances  are  very  similar. 
But  still  in  this,  as  in  every  other  physical  inquiry,  the  founda- 
tion of  all  knowledge  must  be  laid  in  experience :  to  that  the 
appeal  must  be  made  in  examining  the  truth  or  falsehood  of 
principles,  and  the  usefulness  or  the  futility  of  all  new  proposals 
for  the  improvement  of  the  treatment  of  diseases.  If  the  varie- 
ties of  diflferent  constitutions  are  endless,  and  the  forms  of  dis- 
ease unlimited,  still  there  are  analogies  and  resemblances  suffi- 
ciently striking  and  definite  to  servj  as  a  guide  in  the  intricate 


IN    CHRONIC    DIS&ASES.  143 

maa3s  of  investigation.  The  differences  of  result  of  the  same 
treatment  upon  different  habits,  and  under  various  circum- 
stances, may  be  expected  to  be  rather  differences  in  degree  than 
in  kind ;  and  in  circumstances  more  accidental  and  of  inferior 
importance,  than  in  the  more  marked  changes,  which  may  afford 
a  just  basis  for  correct  reasonin^g,  and  an  encouragement  for 
new  efforts  toward  rehef. 

I  proceed,  therefore,  now  to  relate  some  cases  of  disease  in 
which  I  have  applied  in  some  of  them  with  the  strictest  accu- 
racy ;  in  all  with  as  much  as  i  could  effect,  the  principles,  the 
justness  in  which  I  have  labored  to  establish  in  the  preceding 
pages,  and  in  my  former  writings.  Of  the  propriety  of  the 
general  principle  of  removing  in  chronic  diseases,  if  possible, 
all  the  causes  of  disease,  whether  these  causes  be  immediate  or 
remote,  there  can,  I  conceive,  be  no  dispute.  The  only  ques- 
tion is,  what,  in  fact,  are  these  causes  ?  I  have  extended  them 
to  almost  all  the  ingesta ;  but  particularly  to  common  water, 
to  fermented  liquors,  and  to  animal  food,  fish,  eggs,  in  short, 
to  every  thing  except  the  matter  which  is  the  direct  produce 
of  the  earth,  and  of  such  a  kind  as  experience  has  shown  to  be 
wholesome  and  nutriti»ve. 

Of  vegetable  matter  I  do  not  know  that  any  great  nicety  of 
selection  is  necessary;  the  palate  will  be  a  sufficient  guide. 
Tlicre  can  be  little  doubt  that  vegetables,  which  are  raised  in 
the  country  where  the  land  is  not  too  highly  manured,  are 
preferable  to  those  which  are  raised  in  the  gardens  of  great 
towns,  and  particularly  near  the  metropolis.  But  any  evil 
which  may  be  supposed  to  arise  from  this  cause,  being  for  the 
most  part  unavoidable,  it  is  nugatory  to  give  directions  about  it. 
Of  vegetable  matter,  I  consider  fruit,  and  what  is  unchanged  by 
culinary  art,  as  the  most  congenial  to  the  human  constitution ; 
and  in  consequent  advise  as  much  to  be  taken  in  this  form  as  is 
consistent  with  comfortable  feeling.  In  the  sort  of  vegetable 
matter  employed  there  may  possibly  be  material  differences  on 
the  constitution.  We  know  that  animals  cannot  with  impunity 
deviate  very  much  from  the  species  of  food  which  is  most 
adapted  to  their  natures.  But  as  on  thi-s  subject  I  am  without 
any  information  on  which  I  can  fully  depend,  I  think  it  best  to 
leave  it  to  be  determined  by  time  and  future  observation. 
Vinous  and  fermented  liquors  I  forbid.  The  water  used  in 
every  article  in  which  water  is  taken  into  the  stomach,  I  enjoin 
to  be  artificially  purified  by  distillation.*     This  is  the  Peculiar 

*  Pure  rain  vvat^-,  such  as  it  is  when  coming  frona  the  clouds  and  re. 
ceived  h)  a  clean  ^<?sse1,.  in  shart,  rain  water  liint  is  kept  free  from  the 


144  •  VEGETABLE    DIET 

Regimen  whicli  I  believe  to  be  the  best  adapted  to  the  cure  of 
chronical  diseases  in  general,  such  as  I  have  described  in  my 
''Reports  on  Cancer,"  and  which  I  here  repeat  for  the  sake  of 
those  who  may  not  be  in  possession  of  that  work,  and  also  to 
save  me  the  ti'ouble  of  needless  repetitions  in  the  ensuing  nar- 
ratives. 

But  as  a  motion  may,  in  inert  matter,  be  continued  by  the 
inertia  of  matter  itself,  when  the  impressing  cause  has  been 
removed,  so  the  symptoms  of  disease  may  be  found  to  continue 
when  the  remote  or  exciting  cause  no  longer  acts.  The  patient 
may  be  too  far  gone  to  be  relieved,  the  inherent  powers  of  the 
system  being  destroyed ;  or  he  may  be  partially  relieved,  or  he 
may  be  cured.  All  these  varieties  are  not  inconsistent  with 
the  correctness  of  the  principles  and  the  acknowledged  laws  of 
the  animal  economy.  In  defining  the  extent  to  which  this  prac- 
tice is  applicable,  with  any  probability  of  conferring  benefit,  the 
degree  of  benefit  which  it  may  probably  afford,  the  time  which 
may  be  expected  to  be  required,  and  other  various  circum- 
stances concerning  which  the  mind  of  a  sufferer  is  naturally 
anxious  to  be  informed,  experience  alone  must  be  our  guide. 
To  form  any  conjectures  on  such  subjects,  independent  of  trial, 
is  obviously  impossible. 

And  (if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  a  word  concerning  myself 
in  this  place),  with  regard  to  the  forbidding  of  animal  food,  an 
injunction  that  sounds  more  unwelcome  to  English  ears  than 
any  perhaps  that  could  be  given,  it  is  impossible  that  any  one 
could  have  brought  to  a  subject  a  mind  more  unprejudiced 
than  I  did.  For  forty  years  of  my  life  I  do  not  know  that  as 
many  days  were  passed  without  animal  food.  Early  in  life 
(certainly  before  I  practiced  physic)  I  read  some  where,  I  be- 
lieve in  Mrs.  Macaulay's  letters  on  education,  that  giving  chil- 
dren meat  gravy  instead  of  bread  and  water,  and  such  sort  of 
food,  was  discovered  to  be  a  great  improvement  in  their  diet ; 
and  as  young  people  are  apt  to  be  delighted  with  discoveries, 
the  impression  remained,  and  I  firmly  believed  it.  The  general 
strain  of  medical  writings  since  that  period  was  not  likely  to 

admixture  of  all  other  substances  whatever,  rs  as  good  as  distilled  water 
for  any  chemical  purpose  however  delicate ;  and  from  this  fact  we  may 
safely  infer,  I  think,  that  it  is  also  as  good  for  drinking,  cooking,  and  all 
similar  purposes.  I  am  very  confident  that  if  Dr.  Lambe's  experiments 
liad  been  made  with  pure  rain  water  the  results  would  have  been  equally 
favorable.  Rain  water  all  can  have  at  a  very  little  trouble  and  expense, 
a  circunist.mco  which  is  not  true  of  that  which  is  distilled.  I  cannot 
believe  that  the  Almighty  would  not  have  placed  the  be»t  remedy  within 
tije  reach  of  all  — S. 


IN    CflRONIC    DISEASES.  145 

change  this  mode  of  thinking.  Respectable  and  well-intentioned 
writers  have  ascribed  much  positive  mischief  to  vegetable  food. 
Rickets,  scrofula,  consumption,  palsy,  and  a  host  of  other 
evils,  have  been  said  to  be  the  direct  offspring  of  such  a  diet. 
Dr.  Downman,  in  his  elegant  poem  of  infancy,  wholly  neglecting 
or  being  ignorant  of  all  the  effects  of  locality  and  other  morbific 
causes,  has  condensed  these  charges  in  the  following  lines : 

The  infant  form'd  perhaps  with  stronger  nerves, 

Or  of  peculiar  nature,  may  escape 

The  blasting  hand  of  sickness,  or  may  thrive 

On  vegetable  fare ;  yet  oft  we  view 

Where  poverty  more  generous  food  denies 

Tottering  Rachitis  seize  its  helpless  prey ; 

Or  slow  consuming  Tabes;  or  within 

His  mazy  labyrinth,  the  torturous  worm,  ' 

Finding  a  sure  asylum,  multiplies 

His  noisome  produce.     Hence  the  unwieldy  head. 

Distended  joint,  limbs  variously  incurved ; 

Hence  the  sunk  cheek,  the  hollow  lifeless  eye ; 

Hence  loss  of  balmy  sleep,  and  appetite, 

Convulsive  motions,  agonizing  spasms, 

And  symptoms,  which,  in  order  to  describe, 

Had  foiled  the  Coan  Sage. 

Dr.  Darwin,  if  not  the  best  physician  of  his  age,  certainly  a 
man  of  the  finest  genius,  and  of  the  greatest  natural  penetration 
and  sagacity  of  them  all,  was  an  advocate  for  animal  food.  In 
his  ardor  against  fermented  liquors  he  has  said,  "  Flesh  meats 
as  well  as  vegetables  are  the  natural  diet  of  mankind ;  with 
these  a  glutton  may  be  crammed  up  to  the  throat,  and  fed  fat 
like  a  stalled  ox;  but  he  will  not  be  diseased  unless  he  adds 
spirituous  or  fermented  liquor  to  his  food."  And  upon  this 
I  may  say  truly  preposterous  doctrine,  he  acted,  both  in  his 
own  person  and  in  his  family.  Dr.  Beddoes,  likewise,  whose 
writings  on  the  subjects  of  health  have  been  widely  diffused, 
more  from  the  attraction  of  the  style  and  the  confident  tone  of 
superiority  assumed  by  the  writer,  than  from  any  intrinsic  worth 
of  the  matter,  pushed  the  extravagance  of  his  predilection  for 
animal  diet  so  far,  that  he  maintained  that  butchers  are  not 
liable  to  become  consumptive.  He  might  have  said,  with  an 
equal  chance  of  being  right,  that  common  servants  in  gen- 
tlemen's families,  who,  for  the  most  part,  live  much  in  the 
same  way  as  butchers,  do  not  become  consumptive.  But 
amidst  this  general  concurrence  of  sentiment,  it  was  not  easy 
to  permit  any  doubts  on  such  a  subject  to  come  across  the 
mind.  Nor,  in  fact,  did  I  entertain  any,  till  in  the  year  1804  I 
observed  the  deleterious  effect  of  impure  water ;  when  I  saw 


146  VEGETABLE    DIET 

clearly  enough  that  the  weakness  which  many  experience  froni 
abstaining  from  animal  food,  and  the  other  mischiefs  attributed 
to  vegetables,  might  arise  from  a  diflferent  cause  than  any  thing 
really  debilitating  in  vegetable  food.  It  was  not,  however,  till 
nearly  three  years  afterward  that  I  became  fully  convinced  of 
the  absolute  necessity  of  a  strict  vegetable  regimen  in  chronic 
diseases,  from  an  attentive  consideration  of  the  facts  which  I 
have  elsewhere  detailed. 

In  the  relation  of  the  following  cases,  I  shall  not  follow  any 
artificial  or  scientific  order,  but  shall  put  down  the  facts  nearly 
in  the  order  of  time  in  which  they  occurred.  Thus,  the  re- 
sults of  those  cases  which  have  gone  on  long  enough  to  enable 
me  to  speak  with  confidence  of  the  effects  of  the  treatment, 
will  be  a  sort  of  cover  to  the  defects  of  others,  which,  if  they 
stood  alone,  would  not  justify  a  similar  language.  I  shall  also, 
in  general,  give  a  name  to  each  individual  case  of  disease,  ex- 
ercising on  this  point  my  best  judgment.  For  though  I  con- 
sider nosological  arrangements  to  be  of  very  little  practical 
utility,  yet  some  names  are  necessary  to  convey  to  others  a 
general  conception  of  things,  and  those,  therefore,  which  are 
,the  most  generally  received  are  the  best  suited  to  this  end. 

I  shall  venture,  in  the  course  of  my  narrative,  to  draw  such 
conclusions  as  the  facts  seem  to  warrant.  Perhaps,  here  and 
there,  I  may  offer  some  conjectures  upon  the  more  hidden 
causes  of  the  phenomena  of  diseases.  If  in  these  I  err,  I  doubt 
not  that  I  shall  be  excused  in  the  opinion  of  candid  and  inge- 
nious men ;  since  it  is  obvious  that  these  causes,  that  is  to  sa}'-, 
the  internal  changes  in  the  human  body  that  form  the  more 
open  and  prominent  phenomena  of  diseases,  have,  for  the  most 
part,  eluded  the  research  of  pathological  inquirers ;  this,  I  say, 
IS  obvious,  from  the  little  satisfaction  to  be  gained  on  these  sub- 
jects from  the  writings  of  the  most  esteemed  authors. 


CASE  I. 

Weak  Eyes,  Pimples  of  the  Skin,  Dysjaepsy  Sick  Headache,  Constipation, 
Depression  of  Spirits,  and  Gout. 

Though  the  materials  of  the  following  case  are  taken  from 
experience,  in  my  own  person,  I  have  thought  it  better  to  give 
the  narrative  in  the  third  person.     I  have  begun  the  thread  of 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  147 

the  history  from  a  distant  period,  being  convinced  that  the 
physical  life  of  every  individual  consists  of  a  series  of  pheno- 
mena, none  of  which  are  absolutely  insulated  and  independent ; 
that  each  occurrence  is  a  sort  of  consequence  of  those  which 
have  preceded,  and  is  closely  linked  to  those  which  are  to  fol- 
low. Thus  the  disease  which  ultimately  proves  fatal  often 
shows  itself  in  early  life,  and  might  perhaps  be  traced  by  an 
attentive  observer  even  to  the  first  periods  of  existence.  It 
**  grows  with  our  growth,  and  strengthens  with  our  strength." 
We  have  an  infinite  number  of  histories  of  diseases,  that  is,  of 
solitary  attacks  or  single  illnesses.  But  the  histories  of  a  dis- 
eased life,  so  that  we  may  see  at  a  single  view  the  order  and 
succession  of  events,  are  rare  and  very  imperfect.  To  pro-ceed, 
however,  with  my  narrative. 

August  9th,  1813.  A  physician,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of 
his  age,  passed  the  first  eighteen  years  of  his  hfe  without  dis- 
ease. But  there  were  some  peculiarities  of  constitution,  which 
were  observable  at  this  time.  He  could  never  bear  with  ease 
a  strong  light,  and  the  whole  head  was  more  than  commonly 
tender.  At  eight  years  old  he  received,  by  a  fall  from  a  horse, 
a  severe  wound  in  the  forehead.  The  cicatrix  of  this  wound 
was  always  so  tender,  that  he  could  never  afterward  bear  the 
pressure  of  the  edge  of  a  hat  upon  it ;  on  which  account,  he 
always  wore  the  hat  close  upon  the  eyes.  He  was  of  a  lax 
fibre,  with  a  feeble  pulse,  thin,  pale,  delicate,  and  with  very 
light  hair. 

At  about  eighteen,  he  began  to  have  many  pimples  over  the 
face,  neck,  shoulders,  and  breast;  and  these  continued  unre- 
mittingly upward  of  twenty  years,  being  very  troublesome, 
producing  considerable  deformity,  and  most  of  them,  after  sup- 
puration, leaving  pits  in  the  skin.  About  the  same  time,  too, 
he  began  to  have  some  trifling  uneasy  feelings  of  the  stomach, 
and  slight  dyspeptic  symptoms. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  or  five,  he  was  often  seized  with 
sudden  lameness,  not  very  violent,  and  lasting  only  a  short 
time.  He  was  told  by  a  very  old  sufferer  from  gout,  that  these 
lamenesses  portended  severe  attacks  of  that  disease.  How- 
ever, they  left  him  before  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  and  they 
have  only  been  brought  to  his  recollection  by  subsequent 
events. 

He  arrived,  however,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two  or  three,  with- 
out any  serious  or  dangerous  illness.  He  was  dyspeptic,  had 
often  sick  headaches,  the  eyes  impatient  of  light,  and  tad  some- 
times slight  lumbago  or  rheumatism.     But  he  had  no  confine- 


148  VEGETABLE    DIET 

ment  nor  violent  attacks.  On  exposui-e  to  cold,  or  other  occa- 
sions of  disease,  the  stomach  was  the  principal  sufferer.  With 
coughs  or  colds  he  was  almost  unacquainted. 

About  the  period  above  mentioned,  he  perceived  a  degree  of 
confusion  about  the  head  ;  reading  caused  a  degree  of  dizziness, 
so  that  intellectual  exertion  or  study,  which  had  been  a  source 
of  great  pleasure,  became  less  agreeable.  About  the  same 
time,  too,  but  the  exact  period  he  cannot  fix  upon,  he  found 
the  head  so  heated  at  night  that  even  a  nightcap  was  uneasy, 
and  he  always  threw  it  off  before  morning ;  a  symptom  that 
became  permanent. 

In  some  short  time  afterward,  he  found  the  dyspeptic  symp- 
toms greatly  aggravated,  the  digestion  imperfect,  and,  for  the 
first  time,  the  secretion  by  the  bowels  became  irregular.  Arti- 
ficial methods  of  evacuation,  both  by  medicine  and  by  injections, 
gave  considerable  relief,  and  brought  away  many  scybala,  and 
much  offensive  excrement.  But  the  benefit  was  only  tempo- 
rary ;  after  the  operation  of  medicine,  the  necessity  for  them 
occurred ;  natural  evacuations,  though  not  suspended,  seemed 
ineffectual  and  unsatisfactory ;  nor  was  he  ever  easy  and  com- 
fortable v/hen  the  use  of  medicines  was  intermitted  for  any 
length  of  time.  The  mind,  too,  fell  into  that  disagreeable 
state,  in  which  the  attention  is  greatly  fixed  upon  the  bodily 
feelings;  in  health,  these  are  hardly  noticed,  but  the  atten- 
tion is  absorbed  by  things  that  are  external  and  foreign  to  the 
body. 

At  this  period  of  his  life,  he  thought  that  inflammation  of 
the  bowels  was  caused  by  obstruction,  and  that  the  prevention 
or  removal  of  this  obstruction  would  obviate  such  disease.  He 
was,  therefore,  extremely  attentive  to  preserve  a  regularity  of 
the  intestinal  evacuations  by  the  regular  use  of  gentle  aperient 
medicines.  But  notwithstanding  all  his  precautions,  he  was 
seized,  in  January,  1799,  with  a  very  severe  inflammation  of  the 
bowels.  The  pain  was  chiefly  seated  in  the  right  epigastric 
region,  and  though  the  violence  of  the  disease  was  subdued  in 
eight  or  ten  days,  the  pain  at  that  part  continued  to  be  felt 
for  a  twelvemonth ;  and  after  that  attack,  he  never  walked  out 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  without  feeling  a  slight  tenderness 
and  uneasiness  over  the  whole  abdomen. 

For  a  year  or  two,  however,  after  this  attack,  he  enjoyed, 
upon  the  whole,  a  better  state  of  health  than  before  it.  But 
still  the  dyspeptic  symptoms  and  irregularity  of  the  bowels 
continued  to  trouble  him.  The  stomach  never  felt  easy ;  he 
was  oppressed  with  flatulence,  and  it  continued  necessary  to 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  149 

have  recourse  to  art  to  procure  regular  evacuations.  These 
symptoms  kept  slowly  increasing.  To  these  were  joined,  to- 
ward the  close  of  1802,  fits  of  low  spirits  and  hypochondriacal 
feelings,  which  it  is  impossible  to  describe,  and  the  horrors  of 
which  can  be  knovrn  to  those  only  who  have  felt  them.  They 
were  not  very  lasting,  and  were  succeeded  by  intervals  of 
cheerfulness  and  good  spirits. 

In  the  beginning  of  1803,  the  uneasiness  of  the  stomach 
was  more  aggravated.  It  was  not  acute,  but  constant  and 
wearino^.  It  was  not  a  fortnio^ht  before  he  conceived  the  idea 
which  led  to  its  relief,  that  he  said  in  despair  to  one  who  was 
the  sharer  of  all  his  thoughts,  "  What  can  it  be  that  occasions 
this  constant  uneasiness  of  the  stomach  ?"  He  was  more  than 
commonly  temperate,  lived  in  a  small  healthy  country  town, 
and  from  the  nature  of  his  profession  used  much  exercise,  though 
it  seldom  amounted  to  great  fatigue.  Still  he  found  himself 
unable  to  ward  off  severe  illness,  and  the  dread  of  still  more  dan- 
gerous attacks. 

The  only  thing  which  had  afforded  any  permanent  relief  to 
the  stomach  was  substituting  water  to  beer  as  a  common  bever- 
age.    This  has  been  serviceable,  but  without  effecting  a  cure. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1803,  he  saw  reason  to  believe  that 
deleterious  matter  was  introduced  into  the  body  with  the  water 
that  is  habitually  employed ;  and  he  determined  therefore  to 
try  the  effect  of  using  none  but  what  was  made  perfectly  pure 
by  distillation.  The  motives  for  this  opinion  he  has  detailed  at 
length  in  a  Avork  entitled  An  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Consti- 
tutional Diseases.  He  believes  that  the  views  he  took  in  that 
work  are  essentially  correct,  but  that  the  hypothesis  he  adopted 
was  too  limited.  He  reserves,  however,  what  he  may  have  to 
say  on  this  head  to  a  more  proper  place  and  opportunity. 

When  he  found  that  the  uneasy  state  of  the  stomach  was 
abated  by  this  simple  expedient,  the  dehght  received  from  the 
discovery  may  be  more  readily  conceived  than  described.  And 
indeed  the  real  benefit  produced  was  very  considerable.  He 
found  a  considerable  improvement  of  muscular  strength.  -In 
about  nine  months  his  sick  headaches  left  him ;  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present  hour  he  has  not  experienced  this  great 
inconvenience  once.'"  The  constant  uneasiness  of  the  stomach 
soon  became  soothed,  and  in  about  fifteen  months  it  was  hardly 
sensible.     All  the  dyspeptic  symptoms  were  relieved,  the  sto- 

*  He  has  been  informed  by  others  of  sick  headaches  having  been  re- 
lieved by  distilled  wal^,  particularly  by  a  gentleman  more  than  sixty 
years  of  age. 


150  VEGETABLE    DIET 

mach  was  no  longer  loaded  and  oppressed  with  flatulence,  and 
the  bowels  performed  their  regular  functions  without  the  aid 
of  medicine. 

Regularly  in  the  month  of  October  he  had  been  subject,  for 
some  years,  to  severe  attacks  of  pain  in  the  jaws ;  so  much 
that  he  used  to  take  sixty,  eighty,  or  even  one  hundred  drops 
of  tincture  of  opium  to  gain  relief.  This  kind  of  attack  recur- 
red the  first  year  after  the  use  of  distilled  water  Avith  its  accus- 
tomed violence.     But  since  that  time  it  has  ceased  entirely. 

At  the  end  of  eight  months,  that  is  to  say  in  the  beginning 
of  1804,  he  had  a  relapse  of  the  inflammation  of  the  bowels, 
ushered  in  with  exactly  the  same  symptoms  as  in  the  year 
1799,  and  with  equal  severity  of  pain.  But  in  this  instance  it 
subsided  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days  without  bleeding, 
and  after  a  week  or  nine  days  it  was  entirely  gone,  without 
leaving  any  trace  of  uneasiness  after  it. 

Before  he  adopted  the  use  of  pure  water,  the  linen  over  the 
right  shoulder  was  constantly  stained  with  blood,  from  the 
breaking  of  a  succession  of  pimples  upon  the  subjacent  parts. 
This  ceased  by  its  use,  as  did  the  tenderness  of  the  abdomen 
upon  exposure  to  the  damps  of  the  evening. 

All  these  changes  showed  that  the  whole  habit  of  body  was 
affected  by  this  simple  change.  It  appeared  to  pervade  and 
affect  every  organ.  But  its  effects  were  most  evident  upon 
the  mouth,  tongue,  and  palate.  The  tongue  was  less  foul, 
the  feelings  of  all  the  parts  more  comfortable,  and  the  teeth 
became  very  much  divested  of  the  dark  and  foul  matter  with 
which  they  were  soiled. 

Another  appearance  was  very  striking.  He  had  observed 
for  years  that  the  skin  of  the  neck  contracted  a  black  stain, 
which  he  in  vain  attempted  to  remove  by  washing.  It  was 
either  indelible,  or  was  quickly  renewed  after  it  had  been  re- 
moved. But  this  foulness,  like  that  upon  the  teeth,  was  taken 
away  almost  entirely  by  the  same  process.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  this  blackness,  which  may  be  observed  on  many  per- 
sons, and  which  is  that  which  soils  the  linen  in  contact  with 
the  neck,  proceeds  from  the  body  itself.  It  must  be  a  taint  of 
the  mucus  of  the  skin ;  and  as  the  black  summits  of  coagulated 
mucus  which  may  be  pressed  out  of  the  skin  (which  are  vul- 
garly called  grubs)  are  discolored  only  where  they  have  been 
exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  it  seems  that  the  matter  is  colorless 
wh-en  excreted ;  but  it  is  blackened  by  the  action  of  the  atmo- 
sphere. 

The  whole  skin  also  became  less  tentter.    Thus  he  could 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  151 

bear  shaving,  even  with  cold  water,  without  pain ;  the  great 
tenderness  of  the  forehead  diminished,  so  that  he  became  able 
to  bear  the  moderate  pressm-e  of  a  hat  upon  the  old  cicatrix 
on  the  forehead  without  inconvenience.  The  number  of  pim- 
ples much  diminished,  and  those  which  appeared  did  not  so 
readily  run  into  suppuration. 

Observing  these  things,  he  cannot  be  surprised  even  at  this 
time,  that,  not  suspecting  any  other  evident  cause  of  mischief, 
and  seeing  that  the  one  which  he  had  detected  was  of  itself 
adequate  to  account  for  the  premature  and  violent  dissolution 
of  the  body,  he  should  have  thought  that  no  other  precaution 
than  attention  to  the  purity  of  the  fluids  introduced  into  the 
body,  with  an  observance  of  the  common  rules  of  temperance 
and  moderation,  was  requisite  to  the  preservation  of  the  health. 
Ought  it  to  be  a  reproach  to  him,  that,  at  this  period,  with 
regard  to  the  nature  of  the  food,  he  was  of  the  same  opinion 
as  the  bulk  of  the  community  and  the  great  body  of  the  profes- 
sion, and  that  he  had  not  adopted  sentiments,  which  are  by 
the  majority,  at  this  moment,  deemed  indefensible  ? 

But  his  own  personal  experience,  united  to  the  observations 
he  made  upon  others,  proved  to  him  the  insufficiency  of  this 
precaution  aione.  During  the  whole  of  1804  he  enjoyed  an 
improved  state  of  health,  Nor  did  he  notice  any  thing  in  par- 
ticular, except  it  was  occasionally  an  uneasiness  over  the  head, 
particularly  after  dinner.  In  the  course  of  1805,  he  first  felt 
pains  over  the  head  frequently  occurring.  They  were  quite 
different  from  sick  headaches;  they  were  of  the  kind  rather 
which  would  be  called  tensive,  affecting  the  whole  cranium,  and 
much  depressing  the  spirits.  The  hypochondriacal  feelings  and 
lowness  of  spirits  increased.  After  dinner,  the  propensity  to 
sleep  was  frequently  irresistible,  even  in  company.  Besides 
this,  he  found  the  eyesight  permanently  injured.  Every  object 
at  which  he  attempted  to  look  with  steadiness  had  a  vibratory 
motion.  This  was  more  particularly  evident  when  examining 
pictures  at  a  little  distance.  The  hands  and  feet  were  always 
parched  and  hot,  the  skin  dry,  and  there  was  a  tendency  to 
emaciation.  At  times  he  found  it  almost  impossible  to  fix  the 
mind  to  any  thing  which  demanded  study  and  reflection. 

Toward  the  close  of  this  year,  and  the  very  beginning  of  the 
next,  the  pains  of  the  head  increased  much  in  severity,  so  that 
be  was  obliged  during  the  attack  to  lie  upon  the  bed,  and  ho 
began  to  loath  his  food.  He  resolved,  therefore,  finally,  to  ex- 
ecute what  he  had  been  contemplating  some  time — to  abandon 
animal  food  altogeiher,  and  every  thing  analogous  to  it,  and  to 


152  VEGETABLE    DIET 

confine  himself  wholly  to  vegetable  food.  Tliis  determination 
he  put  in  execution  the  second  week  of  February,  1806,  and  he 
has  adhered  to  it  with  perfect  regularity  to  the  present  time. 
His  only  subject  of  repentance  with  regard  to  it  has  been,  that 
it  had  not  been  adopted  much  earher  in  hfe. 

He  never  found  the  smallest  real  ill  consequence  from  this 
change.  He  neither  sunk  in  strength,  flesh,  nor  spirits.  He 
was  at  all  times  of  a  very  thin  and  slender  habit,  and  so  he  has 
continued  to  be ;  but  upon  the  whole  he  has  rather  gained  than 
lost  flesh.  He  has  experienced  neither  indigestion  nor  flatu- 
lence, even  from  the  sort  of  vegetables  which  are  commonly 
experienced  to  be  the  most  oppressive  and  windy,  as  beans, 
peas,  peas-soup,  etc.  Nor  has  the  stomach  suffered  from  any 
vegetable  matter  though  unchanged  by  culinary  art,  or  uncor- 
rected by  condiments.  These  results,  so  opposite  to  common 
experience,  and  even  to  his  own  in  the  former  part  of  his  life, 
can  be  accounted  for  only  by  considering  the  changes  intro- 
duced into  the  state  of  the  digesting  organs  by  the  previous 
use  of  the  purified  water.  The  only  unpleasant  consequence 
of  the  change  was  a  sense  of  emptiness  of  the  stomach,  which 
continued  many  months.  In  about  a  year,  however,  he  became 
fully  recpficiled  to  the  new  habit;  and  felt  as  well  satisfied  with 
his  vegetable  meal,  as  he  had  been  formerly  with  his  dinner  of 
flesh. 

He  can  truly  say  that  since  he  has  acted  upon  this  resolution, 
no  year  has  passed  in  which  he  has  not  enjoyed  better  health 
than  in  that  which  preceded  it.  But  he  has  found  that  the 
changes  introduced  into  the  body  by  a  vegetable  regimen  take 
place  with  extreme  slowness ;  that  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  any 
considerable  amendment  in  successive  weeks,  or  in  successive 
months ;  we  are  to  look  rather  to  the  intervals  of  half  years,  or 
years. 

But  a  perceptible  benefit  wac.  very  soon  obtained.  The  seve- 
rity of  the  pain  became  quickly  mitigated,  so  that  it  never  once, 
from  the  time  at  which  he  made  this  change,  forced  him  to  take 
to  his  bed.  But  it  recurred  again  and  again  for  three  or  four 
years,  at  irregular  but  no  very  distant  periods  ;  perhaps  a  week 
rarely  passed  without  one  or  two  paroxysms.  And  for  three 
years  at  least  he  constantly  awoke  with  pain  in  the  back  of  the 
neck,  near  the  insertion  of  the  muscles  of  the  neck  into  the 
occipital  bone,  and  from  thence  spreading  over  the  whole  head. 

So  mucli  was  the  sensorium  affected,  that  repeatedly,  while 
walking  through  the  streets  during  the  first  year,  he  was  insen- 
sible of  the  weight  of  his  body,  and  could  not  feel  the  pressure 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  153 

of  his  feet  upon  the  pavement.  He  presumes  that  this  sensa- 
tion, or  rather  this  want  of  sensation,  must  approach  near!}'-  to 
the  state  of  those  who  suffer  apoplectic  attacks.  This  very  un- 
pleasant state  continued  recurring  for  near  twelve  months.  Since 
that  time  it  has  never  been  experienced. 

When  this  symptom  disappeared,  the  paroxysms  of  uneasi- 
ness over  the  head  were  accompanied  with  a  more  evident  sen- 
sation of  fullness  and  oppression;  and  these  continued  to  recur 
as  the  former  paroxysms  had  done.  It  was  evident,  therefore, 
that  the  morbid  changes  which  were  attended  with  a  tempo- 
rary abolition  of  sensibility,  in  an  inferior  degree  of  intensity, 
produced  the  sense  of  local  fullness  and  oppression.  This  con- 
tinued to  be  considerably  oppressive,  even  during  the  fifth  year 
of  this  course  (1810). 

In  the  autumn  of  the  preceding  year  (1809),  he  was  exposed 
during  a  journey  to  the  joltings  of  a  stage  coach.  The  common 
asperities  of  the  road  did  not  affect  the  head,  but  a  violent  jolt 
gave  the  sense  of  a  deep  internal  pain  in  the  interior  of  the 
brain. 

And — to  bring  into  one  point  of  view  this  part  of  the  case — 
even  now,  during  the  eighth  year  of  this  mode  of  living,  these 
pains  recur  very  nearly  in  the  same  manner  as  they  have  for 
the  last  three  or  four  years.  Sometimes  two  or  three  times  in 
the  week,  occasionally  not  above  once  in  a  fortnight,  be  awakes 
(having  been  restless  the  preceding  night)  with  a  pain  at  the 
back  of  the  neck,  and  some  uneasiness  over  the  head ;  it  con- 
tinues sometimes  ten  minutes,  very  rarely  half  an  hour,  and  then 
subsides,  with  perhaps  a  trifling  depression  of  strength.  It  will 
happen,  though  very  rarely,  that  it  continues  to  be  felt,  but  in 
a  very  trifling  degree,  during  the  whole  of  the  day.  But  the 
sense  of  fullness  and  oppression  is  completely  gone,  and  the 
whole  is  so  trifling  as  not  to  deserve  the  name  of  disease,  nor 
even  of  inconvenience,  since  it  does  not  in  any  degree  interfere 
with  the  common  duties  and  occupations  of  life. 

All  these  circumstances  sufficiently  demonstrate  that  there 
was  formed  in  this  case  deep-seated  disease  of  the  substance  of 
the  brain,  and  it  appears  very  evident  that  this  disease  was  pro- 
ceeding with  a  rapid  pace  toward  an  apoplectic  or  paralytic 
attack.  What  sets  this  beyond  dispute  is,  that  in  the  worst  of 
these  pains  of  the  head,  the  tongue  has  been  so  affected  that 
he  could  not  speak  with  perfect  freedom.  The  effect  of  the 
vegetable  regimen,  even  during  seven  years  and  a  half,  has  not 
been  enough  wholly  to  subdue  the  disease.  But  it  has  regularly 
and  progressively  diminished  its  intensity.    The  paroxysms  have 


154  VEGETABLE    DIET 

returned  nearly  in  the  same  manner  during  the  last  year  as  dur- 
ing the  first;  but  in  each  successive  year  the  strength  or  inten- 
fciiy  of  them  has  been  uniformly  diminished. 

And  granting  the  representation  of  facts  to  be  correct,  and 
the  nature  of  this  case  to  be  justly  determined,  I  must  be  per- 
mitted to  ask,  what  other  method  than  that  which  has  been 
adopted  would  have  produced  the  same  benefit?  If  such 
methods  exist,  I  confess  my  own  ignorance  of- them.  Bleeding, 
either  general  or  topical,  is  that  which  is  most  resorted  to,  and 
is  that  which  gives  the  greatest  relief  to  urgent  symptoms.  But 
it  can  do  no  more  than  this ;  the  morbid  diathesis  of  the  sys- 
tem, that  which  exists  equally  during  the  paroxysms  of  disease 
and  during  the  intervals,  remains  unchanged.  All  the  symp- 
toms of  oppression  of  the  brain  will  persist,  and  gradually  in- 
crease, though  the  patient  be  cupped  repeatedly  and  regularly, 
as  I  have  myself  frequently  witnessed. 

If  it  be  thought  that  if  a  cure  were  possible  by  this  method 
of  treatment,  it  ought  surely  to  be  effected  in  the  long  period 
of  seven  years  and  a  half ;  let  it,  on  the  other  hand,  be  con- 
sidered how  long  there  had  been  signs  of  the  formation  of  this 
disease  before  it  had  arrived  at  that  degree  of  severity  which 
enforces  attention,  and  excites  apprehension.  I  have  shown, 
from  the  tenderness  of  the  forehead,  that  there  existed  a  mor- 
bid predisposition  in  these  parts  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  year  of 
life.  It  is  clear  enough,  likewise,  from  the  dizziness  and  heat 
about  the  head,  which  I  have  mentioned,  that  some  morbid 
change  had  taken  place  nine  or  ten  years  before  these  pains 
came  on.  It  cannot  be  thought  strange  or  unnatural  if  it  should 
be  proved,  that  wholly  to  eradicate  these  symptoms  requires 
some  such  time  as  from  the  appearance  of  the  first  unequivocal 
signs  of  disease  having  taken  place. 

But  though  these  pains  still  recur  in  a  trifling  degree,  the 
relief  given  to  the  brain  in  general  has  been  decided  and  most 
essential.  It  has  appeared  in  an  increased  sensibility  of  all  the 
organs,  particularly  of  the  senses — the  touch,  tlie  taste,  and  the 
sight — in  greater  muscular  activity,  in  greater  freedom  and 
strength  of  respiration,  greater  freedom  of  all  the  secretions, 
and  in  increased  intellectual  power.  It  has  been  extended 
to  the  night  as  much  as  to  the  day.  The  sleep  is  more  tran- 
quil, less  disturbed  by  dreams,  and  more  refreshing.  Less 
sleep  upoa  the  whole  appears  to  be  required.  But  the  loss  of 
quantity  is  more  than  compensated  by  its  being  sound  and 
uninterrupted. 

In  abo'it  three  years  that  vibratory  motion  of  visible  objects 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  15$ 

was  either  gone  or  hardly  perceptible.  The  impression  of  light 
is  no  longer  painful ;  the  eye  rather  courts  than  avoids  it.  The 
ear  has  received  a  corresponding  benefit.  Sounds  had  become 
oppressive  to  him  ;  the  noises  of  children  had  in  particular  be- 
come irksome.  But  this  morbid  feeling  has  wholly  vanished. 
He  is  much  more  patient  of  the  changes  of  the  atmosphere, 
but  particularly  the  cold.  He  had  been  clothed  both  in  sum- 
mer and  winter  in  flannels.  But  he  has  been  enabled  to  quit 
them  without  injury.  Flannel  drawers,  and  flannel  linings  to 
the  coat  sleeves,  during  the  winter  months,  is  all  that  he  has 
retained.  Wet  clothes  or  wet  feet  are  no  longer  objects  of  terror. 
They  cause  no  injury  worth  regarding. 

About  the  same  time  the  burning  heat  of  the  palms  of  the 
hands  and  the  soles  of  the  feet  went  away.  The  skin,  which 
had  been  parched  and  dry,  became  moist  and  perspirable.  The 
tongue,  which  had  been  habitually  foul,  became  clean.  The 
saliva  lost  all  clamminess  and  viscidity ;  and  the  secretion  by 
the  kidneys  was  much  increased,  though  the  quantity  of  watery 
fluids  taken  into  the  stomach  was,  at  the  same  time,  greatly 
diminished. 

The  hypochondriacal  symptoms  continued  to  be  occasionally 
very  oppressive  during  the  second  year,  particularly  during  the 
earlier  part  of  it ;  but  they  afterward  very  suddenly  declined, 
and  at  present  he  enjoys  more  uniform  and  regular  spirits  than 
he  had  done  for  many  years  upon  mixed  diet. 

From  the  whole  of  these  facts  it  follows,  that  ail  the  organs, 
and,  indeed,  every  fibre  of  the  body  is  simultaneously  affected 
by  the  matters  habitually  conveyed  into  the  stomach ;  and  that 
it  is  the  incongruity  of  these  matters  to  the  system  which  grad- 
ually forms  that  morbid  diathesis,  which  exists  alike  both  in  ap- 
parent health  and  in  disease,  I  might  illustrate  this  fact  still  more 
minutely  by  observations  on  the  teeth,  on  the  hair,  and  on  the 
skin.  I  might  show  that,  by  a  steady  attention  to  regimen,  the 
skin  of  the  palms  of  the  hand,  or  between  the  toes,  becomes 
of  a  firmer  and  stronger  texture ;  that  even  a  corn  upon  the 
toe,  which  had  for  twenty  years  and  upward  been  growing 
more  fixed,  firm,  and  deep,  had  first  its  habitudes  altered,  and 
finally  was  softened  and  disappeared ;  but  perhaps  enough  has 
been  said  already  to  give  a  pretty  clear  idea  both  of  the  kind 
of  change  introduced  into  the  habit  by  diet,  and  of  the  extent 
to  which  it  may  be  carried. 

I  proceed,  therefore,  to  relate  some  new  phenomena  which 
took  place  during  the  course  of  this  regimen,  which  are  both 
furious  in  theaiselves,  and  lead  to  important  conclusions. 


156  VEGETABLE    DIET 

I  have  said  that,  at  the  ag>3  of  twenty-three  or  twenty-four, 
the  subject  of  this  case  was  liable  to  sudden  lamenesses,  which 
were  thought  by  a  gentleman  much  experienced  in  gout,  from 
having  been  himself  a  great  sufferer,  to  portend  that  disease. 
These  lamenesses  disappeared  and  were  no  more  thought  of,  cer- 
tainly before  the  twenty-sixth  or  twenty-seventh  year.  Neither 
did  any  thing  like  a  gouty  affection  of  the  limbs  appear,  when 
the  stomach  and  bowels  were  so  much  relieved  by  the  use  of 
the  pure  water.  But  he  had  not  conjfined  himself  to  vegetables 
for  two  months  before  he  began  to  have  slight  pains  in  the 
feet.  In  the  course  of  the  year  these  pains  much  increased ; 
they  became  strong  and  beating,  but  of  short  duration,  and  un- 
attended by  any  swelling  or  discoloration.  Toward  felie  close  of 
the  second  year  (lOOl),  the  determination  to  the  feet  was  still 
stronger;  there  were  about  that  time  frequent  violent  pains 
through  the  ankleri  and  metatarsal  bones ;  they  were  internal 
but  sudden,  like  the  infliction  of  a  blow  ;  he  used  to  say,  it  was 
as  if  his  feet  had  been  struck  with  a  sledge-hammer ;  there 
were  also  sudden  twinges  through  the  toes,  so  sharp  as  to 
oblige  him  suddenly  to  raise  his  foot  from  the  ground.  In  the 
course  of  the  third  year  he  became  lame  in  one  of  his  feet  for 
two  or  three  months.  He  was  accustomed  to  awake  in  the 
morning  without  any  lameness,  but  before  he  could  dress  him- 
self the  lameness  would  come  on,  and  remain  for  an  hour  or 
two,  after  which  it  went  off,  and  he  could  walk  perfectly  well 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.  There  was  redness  and  slight  tume- 
faction upon  the  upper  part  of  the  foot,  over  the  seat  of  the 
disease.  During  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  winter,  though 
the  beating  paias  of  the  feet  were  much  diminished  in  violence, 
the  gouty  affection  was  more  firmly  settled  in  the  feet.  One 
of  the  little  toes  was  so  constantly  painful,  that  for  many 
months  of  this  winter  and  the  ensuing  spring,  the  pressure  even 
of  the  bedclothes  was  painful.  For  a  year  and  a  half  longer 
he  had  almost  constantly  some  gouty  pains  of  the  toes,  and  fre- 
quent fits  of  lameness.  The  last  time  that  fhis  occurred  was 
in  August,  1810,  when,  for  one  evening,  he  was  so  lame  as  not 
to  be  able  to  walk  freely  without  support. 

This  happened  when  he  had  continued  the  vegetable  regi- 
men four  years  and  a  half.  Here  again,  then,  let  us  pause  for 
a  moment  and  consider  the  obvious  deductions  from  these 
facts. 

I  shall  confine  myself  to  four  observations  : 

1st.  It  is  clear  that  these  pains  of  the  extremities  were 
essentially  the  same  affection  as  had  appeared  in  the  early  part 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  157 

of  life.  The  cause  of  their  disappearing  about  the  twenty - 
seventh  or  twenty- eighth  year  must  have  been  the  shifting  or 
concentration  of  diseased  action  upon  the  internal  and  more 
important  organs,  the  stomach  and  the  brain.  When  these 
became  reheved  by  the  vegetable  regimen,  the  extremities  be- 
came again  affected.  Disease,  therefore,  though  seated  in  dif- 
ferent organs,  may  be  the  same  in  kind ;  and  we  may  conclude 
that  it  is  the  property  of  this  regimen,  and  in  particular  of  the 
vegetable  diet,  to  transfer  diseased  action  from  the  viscera  to 
the  exterior  parts  of  the  body,  from  the  central  parts  of  the 
system  to  the  periphery.  Vegetable  diet  has  often  been  charged 
with  causing  cutaneous  diseases ;  in  common  language,  they 
are,  in  these  cases,  said  to  proceed  from  poorness  of  blood. 
In  a  degree  the  charge  is  probably  just ;  and  the  observation 
I  have  just  made  may  give  us  some  insight  into  the  cause  of 
it.  But  this  charge,  instead  of  being  a  just  cause  of  reproach, 
is  a  proof  of  the  superior  salubrity  of  vegetable  diet.  Cutane- 
ous eruptions  appear,  because  disease  is  translated  from  the  in- 
ternal organs  to  the  skin.      • 

2d.  There  was  an  interval  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  from  the 
disappearance  of  these  pains,  in  consequence  of  the  gradual 
changes  introduced  into  the  system  by  the  use  of  animal  food, 
and  their  being  brought  back  again  by  the  vegetable  regimen. 
Now,  during  all  this  number  of  years,  there  was  neither  inflam- 
mation, pain,  tenderness,  nor  any  other  external  sign  of  there 
being  any  disease  of  these  extremities.  But  from  the  changes 
which  took  place,  as  soon  as  the  vegetable  regimen  was  adopt- 
ed, it  is  clear  that  they  were  really  diseased  at  this  period, 
and  had  been  so  during  the  whole  interval  of  fifteen  or  sixteen 
years.  Disease  should  be  considered,  therefore,  not  so  much 
as  an  obvious  change  in  the  texture  of  parts,  which  is  either 
visible  or  tangible,  as  a  change  in  the  inherent  powers,  which 
belong  to  the  part  as  a  living  substance.  The  more  palpable 
changes,  which  constitute  the  symptoms  of  disease,  are  the  con- 
sequence of  the  previous  and  imperceptible  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  vital  powers  of  the  part.  The  inherent 
vitality  of  the  part,  that  which  distinguishes  every  portion  of 
the  living  body  from  dead  matter,  may  be,  and  often  is,  nearly 
extinguished,  when  there  is  no  such  change  of  structure  as  can 
be  readily  detected  by  the  senses. 

3d.  As,  in  the  affection  of  the  head,  paroxysms,  the  very 
same  in  kind,  but  differing  in  intensity,  continued  to  recur,  even 
for  years  after  animal  food  had  been  discontinued,  it  must  fol- 
low that  whatever  was  the  proximate  cause  of  the  paroxysms. 


158  VEGETABLE   DIET 

under  the  mixed  regimen,  the  same  continued  to  be  the  proxl- 
raate  cause  under  the  vegetable  regimen.  If,  therefore,  there 
was  increased  vascular  action  in  the  brain,  or  in  its  appendages, 
when  these  paroxysms  first  took  place,  and  forming  the  foun- 
dation of  them,  the  same  increased  action,  that  is  to  say,  the 
same  in  kind,  but  not  in  degree,  has  continued  for  a  course  of 
many  years  under  a  diet  of  vegetables  alone.  We  see,  then, 
how  ill-founded  is  the  notion  that  inanition  and  loss  of  power 
is  induced  by  a  vegetable  diet.  In  fact,  all  the  observations 
that  have  been  made,  have  shown  the  very  reverse  to  be  the 
truth.  Symptoms  of  plenitude  and  oppression  have  continued 
in  considerable  force  for  at  least  five  years.  And  the  conse- 
quence of  this  peculiar  regimen  has  been  an  increase  of 
strength  and  power,  and  not  a  diminution.  In  the  subject  of 
this  case,  the  pulse,  which  may  be  deemed,  perhaps,  the  best 
index  to  the  condition  of  all  the  other  functions,  is  at  present 
much  more  full  and  strong  than  under  the  use  of  animal  food. 
It  is  also  perfectly  calm  and  regular. 

4th.  We  may,  from  the  circufhstances  of  this  case,  form 
something  like  an  estimate  of  the  time  during  which  the  ob- 
vious effects  of  animal  diet  will  remain  in  the  system.  In  the 
instance  before  us,  there  was  a  gouty  aflfection  of  strength  or 
intensity,  sufficient  to  produce  lameness,  after  the  animal  food 
and  every  other  matter  which  co-operates  to  produce  such  a 
disease  had  been  discontinued  four  years  and  a  half.  I  said 
therefore  to  myself,  if  this  degree  of  disease  can  remain  four 
years  and  a  half,  supposing  the  intensity  of  the  diseased  condi- 
tion to  continue  uniformly  to  decline  at  the  same  rate,  we  ought 
still  to  expect  some  slight  vestiges  of  the  original  affection  at 
double  the  distance  of  time,  or  at  the  end  of  nine  years.  It  is 
obviously  improper  to  transfer  this  precise  result  to  any  other 
case  whatever ;  every  one  must  be  judged  by  its  own  proper 
and  peculiar  circumstances.  But  a  similar  mode  of  reasoning, 
and  a  probable  anticipation  of  future  events,  may,  I  conceive, 
be  applied  to  any  case  whatever,  according  to  the  phenomena 
which  it  presents. 

To  finish,  therefore,  this  long  account :  After  four  years  and 
a  half,  the  gouty  affection  still  continued,  but  its  strength  be- 
came so  much  diminished,  that  the  lameness  never  again  ap- 
peared. Sometimes  there  has  been  a  shght  stiffness  of  the 
heel ;  sometimes  pains  of  the  toes,  with  redness  and  soreness 
of  them  all.  Through  the  whole  of  the  seventh  year  (1812), 
there  was  a  stiffness  and  some  pain  of  the  left  knee.  But  finally, 
m  the  eighth  year,  the  whole  of  these  external  pains  have  dis- 


m   CHRONIC    DISEASES.  159 

appeared,  with  the  exception  of  that  trifling  affection  of  the 
liead,  which  has  been  mentioned. 

Nor  has  this  gouty  disorder  been  the  only  external  disease 
which  may  be  said  to  have  been  induced  by  the  vegetable  re- 
gimen. Formerly  he  hardly  knew  (as  has  been  said)  what  it 
was  to  have  a  cough  or  a  cold  ;  the  stomach  or  bowels  were 
on  all  occasions  of  exposure  the  principal  sufferers.  But  at 
the  end  ctf  the  second  year  of  the  vegetable  regimen,  he  had 
angina,  infinitely  more  severe  than  he  had  ever  suffered  before. 
The  attempt  to  swallow  was  perfect  agony.  He  has  since  had 
many  severe  coughs  and  colds,  attended  with  much  defluxion. 
There  has  also  been  much  itching  on  the  surface  of  the  body, 
particularly  on  the  head,  the  hams,  and  the  legs.  But  to  com- 
pensate for  these  trifling  evils,  now  the  stomach  and  bowels 
never  suffer. 

And  as  to  the  general  state  of  health,  it  has  uniformly 
and  regularly  improved,  and  more  obviously  since  the  fifth 
year  than  before  that  time.  During  the  first  five  years  there 
were  many  threatenings  of  the  return  of  his  former  dis- 
orders, but  which  came  to  nothing.  In  particular,  in  the 
spring  of  the  fourth  year  (1810),  he  looked  thin  and  ill,  had 
great  agitation  and  restless  nights  ;  the  bowels  became  tense ; 
and  once  he  threw  up  his  food.  But  all  this  passed  off  without 
any  real  illness  ;  and  he  can  say  in  general  that,  with  the 
exception  of  the  attack  of  angina,  which  kept  him  within  doors 
for  three  or  four  days,  he  has  not  now  for  the  space  of  seven 
years  suftered  the  confinement  of  a  single  hour. 

With  regard  to  fermented  liquors,  his  experience  is  shortly 
as  follows.  He  was  at  all  times  habitually  sober — a  habit  to 
which,  in  this  instance,  he  attaches  no  personal  merit — since 
he  never  liked  wine,  and  it  occasioned  heat  and  uneasiness. 
He,  therefore,  till  near  thirty  years  old,  confined  himself  to  a 
single  glass  of  wine  daily,  as  his  constant  habit  when  not  in 
company.  But  after  that  time,  he  felt  compelled  in  a  manner 
to  use  more  wine ;  he  felt  chilly  and  uneasy,  and  found  that 
by  the  use  of  about  three  glasses  of  wine  daily,  he  was  warmer, 
was  more  cheerful  and  active,  and  had  in  every  respect  less  un- 
easy feeling.  But  by  the  use  of  the  pure  water,  he  found  these 
uneasy  sensations  greatly  diminished,  and  the  necessity  for  wine 
appeared  removed.  He  was,  therefore,  enabled  gradually  to 
leave  it  off  entirely ;  and  at  present  he  finds  fermented  liquor 
of  any  kind  obviously  injurious. 

These  observations  instructed  him  how  substances  may  in- 
troduce into  the  system  a  quantity  of  agreeable  sensation,  or 


160  VEGETABLE    DIET 

destroy  uneas J  feelings,  whicli  are  at  the  same  time  ultimately 
injurious,  and  concur  with  other  causes  to  destroy  the  vital 
powers. 

He  had,  when  living  on  common  diet,  been  habitually 
thirst}^  and  like  most  persons  inclined  to  studious  and  seden- 
tary habits,  was  much  attached  to  tea-drinking.  But  for  the 
last  two  or  three  years,  he  has  almost  wholly  relinquished  the 
use  of  liquids  ;  and  by  the  substitution  of  fruit  and  recent  vege- 
tables, he  has  found  that  the  sensation  of  thirst  has  been,  in  a 
manner,  abolished.  Even  tea  has  lost  its  charms,  and  he  very 
rarely  uses  it.  He  is  therefore  certain,  from  his  own  experi- 
ence, that  the  habit  of  employing  liquids  is  wholly  an  artificial 
habit,  and  not  necessary  to  any  of  the  functions  of  the  animal 
economy. 

He  has  chosen  to  denominate  this  affection  of  the  head  atonic 
gout,  induced  by  the  obvious  connection  between  it  and  the 
gouty  pains.  The  general  habit  was  of  that  kind,  that  it  would 
have  been  said  that  there  was  not  sufficient  strength  of  consti- 
tution to  throw  out  the  gout  upon  the  limbs.  But  if  it  should 
seem  more  proper  to  any  one  to  suppose  this  disease  a  disposi- 
tion to  apoplexy,  palsy,  or  any  other  of  the  great  diseases  ori- 
ginating in  the  brain,  I  should  not  think  it  worth  contending 
about.  Such  disorders  affecting  gouty  subjects  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  same  disorders  affecting  persons  not  sub- 
ject to  gout. 

I  may,  in  relation  to  this  long  history,  have  been  tedious, 
and  seem  needlessly  minute  to  most  of  my  readers.  But  in 
truth,  I  have  omitted  many  circumstances  for  the  sake  of  brev- 
ity. There  is  no  other  cRse,  the  circumstances  of  which  can 
be  so  strongly  impressed  upon  my  mind,  and  of  which  I  can 
so  fully  warrant  the  correctness  of  statement.  The  conclusions, 
too,  which  I  have  drawn  from  the  facts,  are  general  conclu- 
sions, illustrative  of  the  universal  laws  of  diseased  action.  I 
shall,  therefore,  be  absolved  from  the  necessity  of  employing 
the  same  minuteness  in  what  I  have  further  to  relate.  If  those 
for  whose  service  these  labors  are  principally  designed — I  mean 
persons  suffering  under  habitual  and  chronical  illness — are  en- 
abled to  go  along  with  me  in  my  argument,  to  form  a  general 
correct  notion  of  what  they  are  to  expect  from  regimen,  and, 
above  all,  to  arm  their  minds  with  firmness,  patience,  and  per- 
severance, I  shall  not  readily  be  induced  to  think  that  I  have 
written  one  superfluous  line. 

Nov.  15th,  1814. — I  feel  it  needful  to  add  to  this  account 
no  more  than  that  the  pains  :>f  the  head  are  at  present  still 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  161 

more  trifling,  and  as  nearly  gone  as  possible.     To  say  that 
they  are  wholly  removed  would  not  be  the  truth. 


CASE  II. 

Disposition  to  Pulmonary  Consumption. 

August  25,  1813. — L.  "W.  L.,  aged  sixteen,  had  in  the  first 
years  of  his  life  every  mark  of  a  deep  scrofulous  habit.  He  was 
of  a  fair  and  pale  complexion,  and  at  six  years  of  age  the  skin 
was  rough,  the  eyelids  habitually  red,  the  muscles  weak  and 
soft,  the  joints  tumid.  He  had  suffered  one  severe  attack  of 
abdominal  inflammation;  the  abdomen  was  always  hard  and 
tumid,  though  great  attention  was  paid  to  regularity  in  his  diet, 
and  he  constantly  required  medicine  to  keep  the  bowels  regu- 
lar. To  these  appearances  was  added  a  thinness  which  might 
be  justly  called  emaciation,  and  a  generally  unhealthy,  pallid, 
and  sickly  appearance.  These  appeared  to  me  sufficient  indi- 
cations of  a  diseased  state  of  the  mesenteric  glands,  which  is  a 
precursor  or  concomitant  of  pulmonary  consumption. 

This  general  state  of  health  was  greatly  amended  by  the  use 
of  the  pure  water,  which  was  adopted  in  May,  1803  ;  the  habit 
was  strenj^thened,  the  bowels  became  soft  and  reofular,  and  the 
countenance  became  more  healthful.  From  having  been  an  in- 
habitant of  the  country,  he  had  become,  in  the  autumn  of  1803, 
an  inhabitant  of  London ;  and  it  was  observable  in  him,  that  a 
child,  who  in  the  country  was  subject  to  frequent  indispositions, 
was,  by  this  attention  only,  in  the  heart  of  the  metropolis,  for 
about  sixteen  months  kept  free  from  every  sort  of  illness. 

About  Christmas,  1804,  he  had  a  mild  ulcerated  sore  throat, 
which  appeared  to  have  been  received  by  contagion.  After 
this,  though  he  sufi'ered  very  little  at  the  time,  the  health  began 
rather  to  fail.  It  left  a  constant  hacking  dry  cough,  which  re- 
mained fixed  for  three  or  four  months.  At  this  time,  instinc- 
tively, he  left  off  animal  food,  and  the  cough  disappeared  in  the 
spring,  1805.  He  then,  spontaneously  also,  returned  to  the 
use  of  animal  food,  which  I  did  not  oppose,  my  opinion  at  that 
time  being  that  the  appetite  should  be  taken  as  the  guide  for 
the  species  of  food  best  suited  to  the  present  state  of  the  body. 
I  did  not  at  that  time  consider  that  the  fondness  for  animal  food 
is  wholly  factitious,  and  could  not  in  fact  exist  independent  of 


J  62  VEGETABLE    DIET 

previous  indulgence.  In  the  course  of  this  year  he  became 
very  pallid,  so  that  by  the  end  of  it  his  face  was  of  the  color 
of  marble.  He  had  an  obstinate  inflammation,  of  a  scrofulous 
nature,  of  the  left  eye  and  eyelid  in  the  autumn,  which  left  the  , 
vessels  distended  Avith  blood  from  relaxation.  The  appetite 
also  became  very  delicate  and  capricious,  so  that  his  dinner  was 
(as  was  remarked  by  a  physician  who  saw  him  frequently)  more 
play  than  eating.  Even  many  sorts  of  vegetables  he  disliked. 
In  this  state,  without  any  positive  disease  upon  him,  but  with 
the  air  and  aspect  of  a  child  that  would  never  reach  manhood, 
I  resolved  to  confine  him  to  a  strict  vegetable  regimen,  early  in 
the  y^ar  1806. 

The  consequence  of  this  has  been,  that  from  that  hour  to  the 
present  (now  seven  years  and  a  half),  he  has  been  free  from  all 
serious  illness ;  and  the  health  has  every  year  become  more 
firm  and  established.  A  very  few  slight  indispositions  he  has 
had,  which  it  is  not  worth  while  to  relate  at  length,  except  one 
circumstance,  which  I  propose  to  make  the  subject  of  a  distinct 
account.  But  in  this  case,  though  the  subject  was  so  young, 
the  constitutional  changes  have  been  introduced  very  slowly ; 
indeed,  as  slowly  as  in  persons  of  advanced  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1806  the  opthalmia  returned,  but  much 
less  severely,  and  since  that  time  it  has  not  appeared.  But  the 
vessels  of  the  eyelids  remained  distended  for  three  or  four  years, 
which  gave  the  appearance  of  weakness  in  the  part.  For  full 
as  long  a  time  he  had  a  short  hacking  cough  every  successive 
winter.  During  the  whole  of  the  second  year  (1807),  he  con- 
tinued to  look  exceedingly  pallid,  and  far  from  healthy ;  and 
even  at  the  end  of  four  years  he  had,  with  a  thin,  pallid,  and 
extenuated  body,  an  extremely  full,  throbbing,  and  what  would 
be  called  an  inflammatory  pulse.  But  since  that  time  it  has 
beftome  much  softened. 

Formerly,  when  eating  animal  food,  the  tongue  was  at  all 
times  covered  with  a  white  slimy  crust.  It  is  now,  and  has 
been  for  several  years,  perfectly  clean.  The  smallness  and 
delicacy  of  the  appetite  remained  for  full  two  years,  after  which 
it  improved  and  became  much  less  fastidious.  He  is  now  rather 
pallid,  but  has  much  more  color  than  when  he  used  animal 
food. 

It  was  an  observation  of  his  own,  when  he  was  under  ten 
years  of  age,  that  **  When  I  ate  meat,  1  was  at  night  first  too 
cold,  and  then  a  great  deal  too  hot,  so  that  I  could  not  sleep ; 
but  now  I  sleep  comfortably  all  night  long."  I  doubt  whether 
01*  any  point  more  unexceptionable  evidence  was  ever  offered. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  163 

He  is  at  present  in  very  good  iiealth,  the  breath  sound  and 
strong,  the  appetite  liearty,  with  color  enough,  and  enjoying 
great  activity  of  mind  and  body,  with  a  greater  flow  of  animal 
spirits  tlian  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  people.  But  he  carries  about 
liim  stronf>"  marks  of  a  consumptive  constitution;  and  I  do  not 
doubt  that  if  the  attention,  which  has  been  paid  to  him  now  for 
a  series  of  years,  were  to  be  remitted  for  three  or  four  years, 
he  would  become  really  consumptive. 

Nov.  17,  1814. — As  this  young  man  approaches  manhood  he 
appears  to  acquire  more  firm  health,  and  the  signs  of  his  former 
delicate  state  are  more  completely  effaced. 


CASE  III. 

Distortion  of  the   Chest,  Pimples   of  the  Face,  General  Debility,  and 
Weak  Eyes. 

August  28,  1813. — ti.  L.,  aged  nineteen,  adopted  the  use  of 
pure  water  in  1803,  being  then  between  nine  and  ten  years  of 
age.  She  had  passed  through  the  first  years  of  her  life  without 
any  dangerous  ilhiess,  but  was  delicate  and  subject  to  conges- 
tions of  the  bowels ;  she  was  rather  pallid,  narrow  in  the  chest, 
and  had  not  the  appearance  of  a  child  in  good  health.  About 
the  ninth  year  she  appeared  evidently  to  be  growing  awry.  The 
health  obviously  improved  by  the  use  of  the  pure  water,  but 
not  in  such  a  degree  as  to  furnish  any  precise  observation,  ex- 
cept that  the  tendency  to  crookedness  was  checked.  At  the 
time  that  this  habit  was  persevered  in,  but  while  she  used  a 
mixed  diet,  the  skin  of  the  face  became  much  deformed  with 
the  black  spots  that  are  called  grubs,  and  the  forehead  in  par- 
ticular became  almost  covered  and  roughened  with  an  aggre- 
gation of  pimples.  In  1805,  she  was  still  more  pallid,  heavy 
about  the  eyes,  with  a  dark  circle  round  them  ;  and  the  spirits 
were  so  tender  that  every  little  exertion  was  a  toil,  and  on  the 
most  trifling  occasion  the  eyes  would  overflow  with  tears. 

About  midsummer,  1809,  I  joined  to  the  pure  water  a  vege- 
table regimen.  She  went  to  school  at  Warwick,  where  her 
regimen  was  continued.  About  October,  Dr.  Winthrop,  then 
a  physician  at  Warwick,  wrote  to  me,  that  her  mistress  was 
under  considerable  anxiety  on  account  of  this  child ;  that  she 
seemed  in  still  wors.  health  and  spir-ts  than  before,  which  was 


1G4  VEGETABLE    DIET 

attributed  to  the  ciiange  of  diet,  vvlucli  he  feared  would  never 
agree  with  so  delicate  a  subject. 

T  could  not,  however,  attend  to  this  well-intentioned  advice, 
which,  I  believe,  was  such  as  would  have  been  given  by  almost 
every  other  medical  man.  But  I  conceive  that  delicate  subjects 
are  those  which  afford  the  least  resistance  to  morbific  impres- 
sions, and  from  which,  therefore,  such  impressions  should  be 
removed  with  the  greatest  care.  Besides,  I  knew  perfectly- 
well  what  had  been  the  state  of  the  health  under  the  common 
regimen  ;  and  what  could  be  hoped  from  a  recurrence  to  it,  but 
a  continuation  of  the  same  condition  ? 

And  all  the  prognostications  of  mischief  from  this  change 
have  been  completely  falsified  by  the  event ;  for  the  truth  is, 
that  from  that  day  to  the  present  she  has  not  had  an  hour  ill 
health,  nor  scarcely  the  trifling  indisposition  of  a  single  day. 
E'^ery  year  the  marks  of  weakness  and  delicacy  wore  off,  and 
were  at  length  completely  effaced  ;  and  she  has  grown  up  much 
more  robust.  The  tenderness  and  lowness  of  spirits,  the  heavi- 
ness of  the  eye  and  languor  of  the  countenance  have  been  re- 
moved and  have  been  succeeded  by  uniform  cheerfulness,  activity, 
and  intelligence.  The  chest  has  expanded  and  assumed  a  per- 
fect form ;  and  a  cough,  which,  in  the  first  years  of  this  course, 
gave  strong  apprehensions  of  a  pulmonary  taint  has  wholly 
disappeared.  In  a  word,  she  is  now,  and  has  been,  for  several 
years,  in  perfect  health. 

The  roughness  of  the  forehead,  occasioned  by  the  swarm  of 
pimples,  did  not  begin  to  yield  till  after  more  than  two  years, 
when  they  gradually  disappeared.  If,  at  present,  there  is  an 
occasional  pimple  on  the  face  or  chin,  she  observes  that  it  is 
much  more  painful  ihan  formerly,  which  is  a  sufficiently  clear 
index  that  the  general  sensibility  of  the  system  is  much  greater 
or  more  acute  than  formerly. 

I  have  chosen  to  assume  a  symptom  that  is  in  itself  very 
trifling  (though  by  no  means  so  in  the  estimation  of  young 
women),  as  the  denomination  of  the  condition  of  the  subject  of 
this  relation.  The  narrow  form  of  the  chest,  or  the  habitual 
tenderness  of  spirits,  formed  a  more  prominent  feature  of  the 
case.  But  I  choose  the  cutaneous  disease,  in  order  to  evince 
the  connection  that  subsists  between  all  the  forms  of  disease, 
from  the  most  trifling  to  the  most  severe. 

The  color  in  this  example  is  not  so  high  as  is  customary  with 
the  eaters  of  animal  food.  But  she  is  much  less  pallid  than 
when  she  conformed  to  the  common  habits  of  life. 

1*^.   may    be  worth  while    to   observe  that   though   in   this 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  1G5 

subject  there  were  many  signs  of  constitutional  weakness,  yet 
there  has  never  been  a-uy  deficiency  of  muscular  strength  ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  muscular  power  is,  and  has  been,  rather 
greater  than  usually  is  the  lot  of  persons  of  her  age  and  sex. 
I  am  inclined  to  infer  from  this  circumstance,  that  the  disposi- 
tion to  grow  awry,  which  is  so  common  in  growing  girls,  is 
founded  more  in  a  weakness  of  the  cartilaginous  and  ligamen- 
tous parts  of  the  body,  than  of  the  muscles.  If  any  portion  of 
these  parts  is  deficient  in  power,  and  the  muscles  have  at  the 
same  time  their  due,  or  more  than  their  due  tension,  the  body 
inchnes  where  there  is  the  least  resistance,  and  the  symmetry 
of  the  parts  is  destroyed. 

Nov.  19th,  1814. — In  the  spring  of  the  present  year  this 
young  person  complained  of  a  sense  of  weight,  which  was  re- 
ferred to  the  stomach ;  the  pulse  became  rapid,  rising  to  120  in 
the  minute,  and  the  muscular  strength  was  depressed.  These 
symptoms  lasted  three  or  four  days,  and  then  declined.  But 
they  again  recurred,  and  she  continued  in  this  condition,  not  so 
ill  as  to  be  confined,  but  enough  to  affect  her  strength  and 
spirits  for  about  three  Aveeks.  Then  the  symptoms  went  off, 
and  she  regained  her  usual  health. 

We  had  here,  what  I  think  may  be  properly  called  the  em- 
bryo of  some  disease,  and  probably  of  a  very  severe  one.  I 
cannot  positively  pronounce  even  what  was  its  seat.  But  I 
have  not  thought  it  right  to  keep  back  any  fact  which  may  be 
thought  by  some  to  miUtate  against  my  own  principles. 


CASE  jy. 

Disposition  to  Hydrocephalus  and  Apoplexy. 

Nov.  21st,  1814. — A.  L.,  aged  14,  had  marks  in  her  first 
year  of  some  irregularity  of  the  functions  of  the  brain.  These 
were  more  evident  in  the  second  and  third  years.  Her  life,  at 
this  early  period,  was  a  continued  storm  of  passion,  though  the 
natural  disposition  seemed  good.  She  was  plethoric,  high 
colored,  and  the  respiration  thick.  The  front  teeth,  particu- 
larly the  two  anterior  incisors  of  the  upper  jaw,  were  wholly 
incrusted  with  black  matter. 

The  use  of  the  pure  water  was  adopted  for  this  child  in  the 
spring  of  1803.  Its  effects  upon  the  respiration  were  very 
strikinsf.     Before  this,  she  could  never  bear  bemg  tosbed  with 


166  VEGEI  IBLE    DIET 

any  quickness,  as  we  are  apt  to  do  when  playing  with  j^oung 
children,  without  evident  marks  of  terror  and  uneasiness.  But 
in  some  time  after  using  the  distilled  water,  the  same  degree  of 
violence  had  no  longer  the  same  effect,  nor  did  it  cause  any 
apparent  uneasiness. 

In  the  course  of  the  ensuing  winter  she  had  a  fit  of  sleepi- 
ness, which  lasted  a  day  and  a  half.  In  the  spring  following 
(1804),  she  had  scarlatina  very  severely,  but  recovered  from  it 
perfectly.  She  continued  to  use  the  mixed  diet  for  nearly  three 
years  and  a  half.  During  this  time  it  was  observed  that  her 
nights  were  very  restless  ;  she  often  screamed  with  violence  in 
her  sleep.  She  had  also  frequent  pains  of  the  head,  which, 
when  they  affected  her,  caused  a  heaviness  and  peculiar  ap- 
pearance of  the  eyes,  so  that  it  was  easy,  from  the  counte- 
nance, to  judge  when  the  head  was  affected.  She  continued 
to  have  a  very  high  florid  color ;  she  grew  much,  but  the 
chest  was  narrow,  and  the  abdomen  so  protuberant  as  to  be 
very  observable.  The  spirits  were  also  irregular;  she  was 
easily  offended,  took  little  delight  in  play,  but  rather  affected 
solitude.  The  pulse  was  frequent  and  irregular.  The  tongue 
was  always  covered  with  a  thick  white  crust.  The  thyroid 
gland  was  also  large,  and  seemed  inclined  to  swell. 

Under  these  circumstances  she  was  confined  to  a  vegetable 
diet  in  November,  1806,  and  has  regularly  adhered  to  it  to 
this  time.  For  a  very  considerable  time  there  was  hardly  any 
perceptible  difference  in  her  constitutional  affections.  When 
she  had  been  confined  to  this  diet  a  year  and  a  half,  she  had 
one  night  such  violent  screaming  in  her  sleep,  that  she  brought 
out  of  their  beds  the  family  at  whose  house  she  was.  In  the 
spring,  1809,  she  retained  her  high  florid  color,  and  it  was  very 
nearly  as  strong  as  when  she  used  animal  food.  In  the  autumn 
of  this  year  she  had  a  mild  inflammatory  fever,  which  confined 
her  to  her  room,  and  reduced  her  a  good  deal.  All  this  time 
the  symptoms  of  the  diseased  state  of  the  head,  the  screamings 
at  night,  the  pains  frequently  recurring,  and  the  dullness  and 
heaviness  of  the  eyes,  and  the  other  circumstances  I  have  men- 
tioned, continued  to  harass  her.  Even  at  the  end  of  four 
years  they  were  so  strong  as  to  attract  the  observation  of  those 
with  whom  she  conversed.  But  now,  that  is  to  sny,  at  the  end 
of  eight  years,  and,  indeed,  for  the  last  three  years,  the  whole 
habit  is  changed,  and  Avith  it  the  marks  of  constitutional  dis- 
ease removed.  The  high  florid  color  of  the  face  is  gone, 
though  she  is  at  present  far  from  pallid.  The  chest  has  be- 
come expanded,  and  the  tumefaction  of  the  abdomen  is  re- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  167 

moved.  I  have  a  right,  therefore,  to  say,  as  I  have  already 
done,  that  this  high  florid  color,  so  far  from  being  a  sign  of 
health,  is  a  sign  of  disease.  The  tongue  is  become  quite  clean, 
and  the  teeth  are  without  any  incrustation.  Indeed,  the  use 
of  the  pure  water  alone  took  off  the  remarkable  foulness  of  the 
fiont  teeth.  The  swelling  of  the  thyroid  gland  has  disap- 
peared. 

If  I  were  to  say  that  the  affection  of  tl>3  head  is  wholly  re- 
moved, I  should  say  what  is  certainly  not  true.  But  it  is  so 
much  removed,  that  she  has  every  external  appearance  of  good 
health ;  nor  could  it  be  discovered  that  she  has  at  present  any 
complaints  about  the  head,  without  a  minute  and  critical  ex- 
amination. The  common  observer  would  pronounce  her  in 
perfect  health. 

The  similitude  between  the  circumstances  of  this  disease  and 
the  pains  of  the  head  related  in  the  first  case  (see  p.  151), 
are  sufficiently  obvious.  This  case  again  warrants  the  conclu- 
sion that,  in  deep-seated  constitutional  disease,  the  effect  of 
vegetable  diet  is  slowly,  but  progressively  and  regularly,  to 
diminish  the  intensity  of  the  paroxysms  which  form  its  exter- 
nal sign  and  character. 

And  when  I  consider  the  early  period  at  which  these  signs 
of  disease  in  the  most  important  organ  of  the  system  appeared, 
and  the  great  pertinacity  with  which  they  have  continued  for 
a  series  of  years,  I  think  myself  fully  warranted  in  the  supposi- 
tion that,  under  common  circumstances,  these  symptoms  must 
have  been  continually  aggravated ;  that  they  would  have  led  to 
a  fatal  disease  of  the  brain,  probably  under  the  form  of  the 
hydrocephalus  intemus  ;  and  that  it  is  very  unlikely  that  she 
would  have  reached  puberty,  or  even  that  period  of  life  at 
which  she  is  now  arrived. 

Though  this  child  has  now  for  several  years  been  in  a  very 
good  general  state  of  health,  she  has  commonly,  at  least  once 
a  year,  a  mild  febrile  attack  which  confines  her  for  two  or  three 
days.     The  head  is  always  the  part  most  affected. 

Three  other  young  people,  members  of  the  same  family  as 
those  whose  cases  have  been  related,  have  used  the  same  regimen 
for  about  the  same  period  of  time.  They  are  and  have  been, 
since  its  adoption,  without  any  thing  like  serious  diseases.  The 
oldest  (now  in  her  nineteenth  year)  has  a  better  general  state 
of  health  than  in  the  early  period  of  life ;  but  there  are  no  cir- 
cumstances worthy  of  relation,  except  it  be,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  attention  paid  to  her  diet,  she  has  some  thickness  about 


168  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  throat.  The  thyroid  gland  is  lai'ge,  and  the  whole  throat 
is  larger  than  in  common,  or  than  is  perfectly  natural.  The 
gland  has  not  the  size  which  can  be  called  bronchocele,  and  is 
in  texture,  as  far  as  can  be  determined  by  the  feel,  sound  and 
healthy ;  but  it  is  obviously  the  embryo  or  germ  of  a  broncho- 
cele. The  second,  aged  thirteen,  had  some  indisposition  of  a 
few  days,  when  she  had  left  off  animal  food  nine  months. 
She  also  lost  her  color,  which  was  fine,  so  as  to  be  a  considera- 
ble ornament  to  her  person.  This  occasioned  much  regret. 
But,  with  the  above  trifling  exception,  she  has  enjoyed  a  com- 
plete and  uninterrupted  state  of  health.  Her  color  improves  a 
little,  but  she  is  still  a  pallid  girl.  The  third,  aged  twelve, 
likewise  lost  his  color ;  but  has  scarcely  had  any  indisposition, 
even  of  half  an  hour,  now  for  eight  years.  His  color  is  of  late 
years  much  improved ;  but  it  is  not  nearly  so  high  as  when  he 
used  animal  food. 

I  cannot  help  noticing  a  fact  which  occurred  to  the  second 
of  thesQ  children,  the  girl  of  thirteen.  It  is  so  trifling  and  com- 
mon an  occurrence,  that  nothing  but  the  inference  to  which  it 
obviously  leads  can  justify  the  mention  of  it.  But  we  are  really 
apt  to  overlook,  by  attemptin.g  to  think  too  deeply,  the  just 
conse(»[uences  of  what  w;e  are  seeing  every  hour. 

In  this  child  then,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1814,  a  nail 
came  off  one  of  the  fingers.  There  was  no  accident ;  but  it 
exfoliated,  and,  in  course  of  time,  was  reproduced.  Of  course, 
this  was  not  unattended  with  pain  and  suffering. 

Now  what  happens  on  the  surface,  we  must,  of  necessity, 
suppose  may  happen  in  any  other  part  of  the  body.  A  part 
may  have  naturally  imperfect  powers  of  conservation.  It  may, 
therefore,  perish,  and  be  reproduced.  This  would  be  a  disease ; 
and,  further,  it  would  happen  in  defiance  of  any  regimen  or  any 
method  of  treatment  whatever.  Was  it  some  such  event  as 
this  that  caused  the  derangement  of  health  which  occurred  in 
Case  III.,  mentioned  at  p.  165  ? 


CASE  V. 

Pulmonary  Consumption. 


If  we  except  the  first  of  the  preceding  cases,  the  facts  which  I 
have  hitherto  related  are  of  young  people,  the  general  state  of 
whose  health  rather  indicated  a  feeble  and  defective  constitu- 


IN    CHROMC    DISEASES.  169 

tion,  that!  disease  completely  formed.  Tliey  are  not,  as  I  ap- 
prehend the  less  valuable  on  that  account ;  for  as  many  diseases, 
in  their  perfect  form,  exclude  all  hopes  of  relief,  it  is  the  more 
important  to  attend  with  care  to  the  symptoms  which  are  the 
precursors  of  them.  In  those  cases  which  are  to  follow,  the 
symptoms  of  disease,  for  the  most  part,  were  more  definite  and 
strongly  marked. 

The  difficulty  of  an  investigation,  such  as  is  the  object  of  this 
work,  is  greatly  increased  by  the  endless  varieties  of  the  human 
constitution,  which  produces  a  corresponding  variety  in  the 
symptoms  and  progress  of  diseases.  If,  for  example,  I  cite  in 
evidence  of  the  justness  of  my  own  conclusions  an  instance  of 
a  patient  with  a  large  ulcerated  cancer  having  lived  four  years, 
it  may  be  answered  that  the  same  disease  has  continued  a 
longer  time  in  persons  living  according  to  the  common  fashion 
of  the  country.  And  it  is  indeed  certain  that  this  species  of 
evidence  can  have  little  weight,  except  as  applied  to  the  par- 
ticular case  in  question ;  the  extent  of  the  disease,  the  stage  in 
which  it  was  taken  up,  the  habit  of  the  patient,  and  other  cir- 
cumstances applicable  to  this  case,  and  to  no  other,  make  the 
deductions  from  the  duration  of  the  disease  either  just  or  nuga- 
tory ;  and  our  reliance  upon  them  depends  more  upon  our 
opinion  of  the  judgment  of  the  observer  than  upon  the  fact 
itself. 

The  same  variety  makes  it  almost,  if  not  quite,  impossible  to 
fix  upon  certain  and  definite  pathognomic  signs  of  diseases,  and 
more  particularly  in  their  early  stages.  But  if  these  diseases 
are  such  as  to  afford  very  slight  hopes  of  success  to  any  method 
of  treatment  whatever  in  their  more  advanced  and  exquisite 
form,  it  is  more  especially  incumbent  on  us  to  observe  atten- 
tively their  incipient  stages,  and  to  attempt  to  arrest  them  at 
this  period. 

Pulmonary  consumption  is  such  a  disease.  As  it  is,  when 
arrived  at  a  certain  stage,  necessarily  fatal,  this  stage  should  be 
regarded  as  the  extreme  effect  of  the  morbific  causes  applied  to 
the  body, 

These  extreme  effects,  when  they  are  such  as  commonly  pre- 
cede dissolution  at  no  very  remote  period,  it  is  in  vain  to  expect 
to  remove  by  the  removal  of  the  remote  causes  of  disease.  In 
such  cases  the  vitality  of  the  body  is  radically  impaired,  and 
the  powers  of  restoration  are  destroyed.  This  I  apprehend  to 
be  universally  true,  whatever  is  the  form  of  the  disease ;  though 
the  signs  of  this  impaired  vitality  may  be  highly  diversified,  and 
in  some  cases  may  be  hardly  cognizable  by  the  senses. 
8 


iH 


VEGETABLE    DIET 


In  conformity  with  this  doctrine,  it  is  incumbent  upon  me  to 
acknowledge  that  in  every  case  of  pulmonary  consumption 
which  I  have  deemed  a  confirmed  case,  death  has  ensued,  not- 
withstanding the  most  exact  attention  to  regimen  upon  the 
principles  I  have  laid  down.  In  some,  the  benefit  for  a  time, 
even  for  three  or  four  months,  was  so  striking  as  to  give  great 
hopes  that  the  patients  would  receive  a  cure.  But  new  symp- 
toms, which  it  is  needless  to  relate,  supervened ;  and  the  issue 
was  as  I  liave  said.  It  is  right,  however,  and  indeed  it  is 
necessary  to  add  that  none  of  these  patients  lived  a  twelve- 
month. They  were  therefore  very  far  gone  before  they  came 
under  my  care.  It  by  no  means  follows,  then,  that  the  same 
fatal  issue  would  have  taken  place  had  they  been  treated  at  an 
earlier  period. 

I  think  it  right  also  to  acknowledge  some  change  of  senti- 
ments with  regard  to  symptoms,  from  what  I  have  expressed 
in  my  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Constitutional  Diseases.  With 
the  general  doctrine  which  I  have  there  maintained,  that  con- 
sumption is  a  constitutional  disease  of  the  whole  body,  and 
not  a  local  disease  confined  to  the  lungs,  and  that  the  symp- 
toms indicate  the  system  to  be  under  the  influence  of  a  con- 
stant and  preternatural  stimulation,  I  continue  to  be  contented  ; 
and  the  more  60,  as  it  has  been  approved  by  enlightened  men. 
But  I  have  said  (p.  137  of  that  work)  that  the  symptoms  of  in- 
creased fever,  and  highly  rapid  pulse  toward  the  close  of  the 
disease,  is  an  index  that  the  vitality  of  the  body  or  sensorial 
power  is  not  destroyed  at  this  period.  I  suspect,  however, 
that  this  is  a  mistaken  view ;  and  that,  in  particular,  a  pulse 
habitually  raised  much  beyond  its  natural  standard  of  rapidity, 
must  be  deemed  an  index  of  vital  powers  impaired,  or  nearly 
destroyed.  It  is  certain  that  in  this  case  no  diet,  however 
anti- stimulant,  will  bring  the  pulse  down  to  its  natural  stan^ 
dnrd. 

There  is  often  much  difficulty  in  recognizing  pulmonary  con- 
sumption in  its  earlier  stages  ;  and  at  this  period,  the  subjects 
of  this  disease  are  so  little  aware  of  their  danger,  that  they  are 
too  often  on  the  verge  of  the  grave  before  they  think  them- 
selves seriously  ill.  This  renders  it  diflSicult  to  show  that  regi- 
men possesses  even  a  preventive  power  over  this  disease.  The 
most  convincing  argument  in  its  favor  is  that,  under  the  regi- 
men of  vegetables  and  pure  water,  the  chest  takes  a  more  per- 
fect and  expanded  form.  A  contracted  chest  is  the  strongest 
of  all  the  external  signs  of  a  consumptive  tendency.  If  it  be- 
come expanded,  the  puln:onary  circulation  must  become  B3or« 


IN    CHRONIC    OlSEASEwS.  i71 

strong  and  full,  in  Avhicli,  in  most,  perhaps  in  all,  cases  of  con- 
sumption, there  is  a  radical  and  constitutional  weakness.  There 
are  likewise  strong  indications  that  this  weakness  is  not  confined 
to  the  pulmonary  circulation,  but  that  it  pervades  the  Avhole 
artei'ial  system  ;  as  is  obvious  from  the  general  frame  of  body 
of  those  who  are  predisposed  to  the  disease,  and  might  be 
illustrated  by  a  more  particular  examination  of  the  symptoms. 

But  as  the  pulmonary  consumption,  like  the  cancer  and 
other  chronical  diseases,  which  prove  ultimately  fatal,  is  sub- 
ject to  great  variety  in  respect  to  the  violence  of  its-  symptoms, 
and  the  length  of  its  duration,  opportunities  can  be  of  no  rare 
occurrence,  in  which  the  disease  may  be  so  s^trongly  marked  as  to 
admit  of  little  doubt  with  regard  to  its  nature,  and  to  be  at  the 
same  time  in  so  early  a  stage  as  to  afford  a  rational  prospect 
of  arresting  its  progress.  Such  a  case  is  the  following,  the 
subject  of  which  was  a  young  woman  under  my  own  roof, 
which  will,  I  hope,  be  considered  as  affording  very  satisfactory 
evidence  on  the  subject. 

September  the  8th,  1813. — M.  W.,  aged  about  thirty-three, 
had  lived  in  my  family  some  years  as  a  female  servant.  She 
came  to  me  when  about  twenty,  and  seemed  to  have  no  partic- 
ular delicacy  or  defect  of  constitution.  She  was  subject,  how- 
ever, to  convulsive  affections  of  the  nature  of  hysteria.  On  the 
decline  of  the  convulsions,  I  generally  observed  a  degree  of 
tension  and  soreness  of  the  abdomen,  and  I  therefore  gave  her 
aperient  medicines,  and  she  used  soon  to  be  well  again.  She 
was  also  subject  to  cough  occasionally. 

She  came  with  my  family  to  town,  in  1803.  She  used  the 
distilled  water  for  her  tea,  and  in  other  liquids,  but  did  not  put 
herself  under  any  restraint  as  to  fermented  liquors.  However, 
she  continued  to  enjoy  pretty  good  health,  as  she  said,  better 
ki  London  than  she  had  done  in  the  country. 

Toward  the  end  of  1807,  there  appeared  in  this  young  wo- 
man strong  signt?  of  failing  health.  She  lost  her  color,  and 
looked  wretchedly,  though  there  appeared  no  fixed  or  deter- 
minate complaint.  The  appetite  failed,  and  the  muscular 
strength  was  impaired.  I  advised  her  to  adhere  strictly  and 
solely  to  the  pure  water,  and  to  renounce  animal  food.  She 
excused  herself  on  the  plea  that  she  could  eat  so  little ;  that 
this  small  quantity  therefore  could  not  hurt  her.  But  continu- 
ing to  look  extremely  ill,  she  promised  to  go  entirely  without  it 
every  second  day  ;  and  I  believe  that  she  conformed  in  some 
degree  to  this  rule  for  about  six  months. 

In  Novembej',  1808,  she  became  exti'emely  ill,  so  as  to  ex- 


m 


VEGETABLE    DIET 


cite  apprehensions  for  her  hfe.  She  had  frequent  faintings, 
great  pulsations  and  pains,  sometimes  of  the  head,  sometimes 
of  the  feet ;  but  the  symptoms  were  irregular  and  anoma- 
lous, so  as  hardly  to  admit  a  definite  appellation.  After  a 
confinement  of  a  fortnight  or  more,  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
to  her  bed,  she  was  gradually  restored  to  her  former  state  of 
health. 

As  she  had  no  cough  that  was  fixed  (though  she  had  fre- 
quent occasional  cough),  nor  made  any  complaints  about  her 
chest,  I  had  hitherto  made  no  particular  inquiry  into  the  state 
of  the  organs  of  respiration.  But  during  her  convalescence 
from  this  illness,  I  examined  into  this  point  minutely.  I  found 
the  breath  so  straitened  that  she  was  unable  to  expand  the 
chest,  or  take  in  a  full  and  deep  inspiration.  She  was  unable 
at  night  to  lie  but  on  one  side.  She  could  not  go  up  stairs, 
without  stopping  for  want  of  breath.  I  found,  also,  that  dur- 
ing the  last  year  she  had  been  frequently  troubled  with  pains 
of  the  side. 

These  symptoms,  connected  with  her  impaired  health  for  a 
twelvemonth  before,  will,  I  should  think,  be  acknowledged  to 
be  nearly  infallible  signs  of  approaching  pulmonary  consump- 
tion. I  therefore  from  this  moment  insisted  upon  her  entirely 
relinquishing  the  use  of  animal  food,  and,  in  all  other  respects,  * 
confoi  ming  strictly  to  the  regimen  I  recommended.  Though  I 
had  failed  in  my  attempts  to  cure  confirmed  cases,  I  had  hopes 
of  relieving  this.  Here  w^as  no  fixed  or  confirmed  cough,  nor 
any  exquisite  hectic  fever ;  the  pulse  was  accelerated  after  din- 
ner, but  in  the  moniing  it  was  nearly  natural.  The  regimen 
was  entered  upon  strictly  in  De-cember,  1808. 

During  the  year  1809,  she  enjoyed  a  somewhat  improved 
general  state  of  health.  She  was  without  any  serious  attack 
of  illness  (unless  it  were  temporary),  and  her  appetite  for  food 
improved.  But  she  still  looked  almost  cadaverously  pale.  All 
the  symptoms  of  the  affection  of  the  chest  remained  also  sta- 
tionary— I  mean,  the  inability  to  take  a  full  inspiration ;  to 
ascend  the  stairs  without  panting  and  resting ;  to  take  exer- 
cise without  stopping  ;  she  could  still  lie  down  only  on  one 
side. 

During  the  far  greater  part  of  1810,  the  same  symptoms 
persevered.  She  often  thought  herself  a  good  deal  better,  but 
these  were  only  transient  intervals.  I  myself,  having  sufltered 
some  severe  disappointments  in  my  hopes  of  giving  relief,  be- 
came disheartened,  and  she  frequently  talked  of  going  into  the 
country.      But  tcward  the  very  end  of    the  year  the  relief 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  173 

became  decisive.  She  became  able  to  draw  in  her  breath 
fully  and  freely ;  to  hold  it  for  a  time  after  the  inspiration  ; 
and  she  recovered  the  power  of  lying  on  either  side  with- 
out inconvenience.  This  was  (as  I  have  said)  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1810,  when  she  had  used  the  regimen  strictly  for 
two  years,  and  had  greatly  lowered  her  diet  half  a  year 
more. 

The  improvement  continued  during  the  year  1811,  though 
the  marks  of  disease  continued  strongly  imprinted  on  her  fea- 
tures. She  became  much  more  active.  She,  who  the  year 
before  was  unable  to  go  up  stairs  without  panting  and  stopping 
for  breath,  was  able  this  year  to  run  up  like  a  young  healthy 
person.  Though  she  was  in  a  lower  state  of  health  th^n  pre- 
vious to  her  ilhiess,  she  was  equal  to  all  her  duties  as  a  domes- 
tic servant.  Her  appetite  was  quite  re-established,  and  was 
become  strong  and  hearty.  She  was  still  more  pallid  than  for- 
merly ;  but  the  cadaverous  appearance,  which  shocked  every 
one  who  saw  her,  daily  wore  off. 

During  1812  she  improved  still  more  in  her  looks;  and  again 
became  not  void  of  the  attractions  of  the  sex.  The  health  also 
became  more  firmly  and  regularly  established.  Her  color, 
though  not  so  strong  as  of  a  person  in  health,  was  about  the 
same  as  before  her  illness.  She  was  restored  also  to  nearly 
the  same  state  of  constitution  as  before  her  illness.  Her  prin- 
cipal complaints  were  a  return  of  the  same  convulsive  parox- 
ysms, to  which  she  had  been  subject  formerly  ;  but  these 
attacks  were  over  in  two  or  three  days,  and  had  no  bad  conse- 
quences. 

Toward  the  end  of  September,  1812,  she  quitted  her  ser- 
vice rather  abruptly,  and  went  into  the  country.  It  appeared, 
in  the  sequel,  that  she  was  secretly  pregnant ;  and  she  was  in 
due  season  safely  delivered.  She  now  resumed  the  com- 
mon habits  of  life  ;  and  I  understood  that  in  consequence 
her  color  quickly  improved,  and  she  became  apparently 
more  robust ;  but  I  have  reason  to  think  that  there  was  no 
real  amendment  of  the  health.  But  having  no  opportunity  of 
being  qorrectly  informed  of  her  present  situation,  I  must  here 
Qlose  the  account  of  the  case. 

,  I  offer  these  facts  with  confidence,  as  convincing  evidence 
that  the  symptoms  of  pulmonary  consumption  can  be  controlled 
by  regimen,  and  its  progress  stopped.  This  is  the  case,  in 
which  the  powers  of  life  were  the  most  impaired,  of  any  in 
which  this  regimen  has  hitherto  been  applied  with  advantage. 

November  29th,   1814. — I  have  lately  been  informed  that 


174  VEGETABLK    DIET 

this  young  woman  continues  apparently  in  good  health.  1 
must  observe,  h3wever,  that  no  conclusions  of  any  consequence 
can  be  drawn  from  this  circumstance.  Had  she  been  for  the 
two  years  that  elapsed,  since  she  left  her  place,  in  another  ser- 
vice, living  as  servants  commonly  do,  I  have  little  doubt  that 
the  eftect  would  have  been  apparent.  But,  in  fact,  she  has 
been  in  place,  not  above  three  or  four  months  of  this  time. 
For  the  remaining  part  of  the  time,  she  has  lived  with  her  pa- 
rents, cottagers,  in  the  country,  and  has  been  in  very  reduced 
circumstances.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  then,  that  she  has 
used  during  this  time  little  or  no  animal  food.  It  may  be  said, 
therefore,  that  her  regimen  has,  in  part,  been  continued, 
though  in  an  imperfect  and  irregular  manner,  during  the  last 
two  years. 


CASE  VI. 

Asthma. 


November,  1814. — I  shall  in  this  place  introduce  the  case  of 
a  gentleman  who  has  eminently  distinguished  himself  by  his 
exertions  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the  great  benefit  to  be 
obtained  from  the  strict  attention  to  regimen,  both  through  the 
medium  of  the  press,  and  by  exhibiting  to  all,  who  chose  to  apply, 
a  beautiful  family  of  children  bred  up,  wi-tli  regard  to  diet,  on 
the  principles  I  have  labored  to  establish.  These  exertions 
were  wholly  disinterested  on  his  part ;  and  though  they  may 
have  exposed  him  to  the  ridicule  or  the  obloquy  of  the  selfish 
or  supercilious  pretenders  to  exclusive  knowledge,  will  ever,  in 
the  estimation  of  true  philanthropy,  do  equal  honor  lo  his  head 
and  his  heart,  and  entitle  him  to  the  noble  distinction  of  a 
benefactor  of  mankind.  He  has  already  given  a  statement  of 
the  facts  regarding  his  own  disease,  as  they  stood  when  I  pub- 
lished my  "  Reports  on  Cancer,"  that  is  to  aaj,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  1809.  In  his  own  publication,  entitled  "  The  Return 
to  Nature,"  he  contented  himself  without  referring  to  this  state- 
ment. But  as  several  unforeseen  circumstances  have  occurred 
since  that  time,  I  have  thought  it  right  to  bring  forward  at  one 
view  the  whole  chain  of  facts.  In  framing  this  statement,  I 
shall  take  as  my  guide  several  letters,  which  are  before  me, 
gome  oral  communications,  and  a  few  personal  observations. 


IN"    cnilOXIC    DISEASES.  17 j 

T.  F.  Newton,  Esq.,  aged  48,  became  subject  to  asthmatic 
attacks  at  a  very  early  period  of  life.  The  first  seizure  v/as 
when  he  was  seven  years  old,  in  one  of  tlie  islands  of  the  West 
Indies.  Soon  afterward,  he  removed  to  England,  and  suffered 
only  occasionally  from  this  cause  till  he  went  to  Oxford.  Dur- 
inc*-  the  whole  time  that  he  was  at  Christ  Church  College,  he 
had  repeated  attacks  of  it,  and  in  the  night,  at  least,  it  was 
constantly  upon  liim  ;  in  so  much  that  he  looked  with  pleasure 
to  his  return  to  the  West  Indies,  in  hopes  of  relief  from  the 
voyage.  But  in  this  he  Avas  disappointed,  as  from  that  period 
he  was  more  aflected,  as  well  in  the  West  Indian  Islands  as  in 
North  America,  in  various  parts  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  afterward  in  England. 

The  attacks  usually  continued  from  one  week  to  three,  during 
which  he  could  not  lie  down  in  his  bed,  but  was  obliged,  night 
after  night,  to  rest  inclined  upon  a  table.  He  was  not  without 
considerable  intervals  of  ease,  and  had  occasionally  a  respite  of 
some  months  ;  but  it  very  seldom  extended  beyond  three  ;  and 
even  during  these  intervals  there  was  a  constant  sensation  of 
uneasiness  at  the  breast  upon  inspiration. 

During  the  years  1804  and  1805,  Mr.  Newton  lived  in  Here- 
fordshire, and  he  was  never  more  indisposed  than  during  those 
years.  The  complaint  seemed  very  much  to  increase  upon 
him ;  especially  in  the  violence  of  the  spasmodic  motion,  with 
which,  during  the  paroxysms,  the  head  was  precipitated  to 
the  table,  on  which  he  used  to  lean,  whether  during  the  day  or 
the  night.  Sometimes  for  a  week  together  he  did  not  venture 
to  lie  down  in  bed,  from  apprehension  of  suffocation  ;  and  I  am 
persuaded,  from  my  own  observations,  that  no  example  of  this 
disease,  not  in  its  very  last  stages,  could  be  more  severe,  at- 
tended with  more  stricture  on  the  respiration,  and  turgescence 
about  the  head. 

In  this  last  year  (1805),  my  relation,  Dr.  Blount,  of  Here- 
ford, put  into  his  hands  my  book  on  the  Orig'in  of  Constitu- 
tional Diseases,  and  recommended  him  to  adopt  the  use  of  dis- 
tilled instead  of  common  water.  He  never  was  a  greater  suf- 
ferer than  at  the  time  he  made  this  change  ;  but  he  found  it  to 
be  immediately  beneficial.  The  general  state  of  health  im- 
proved, and  during  the  first  tw^o  years  and  a  half  he  had  but 
twice  any  returns  of  asthma.  These  attacks  were  sharp,  but 
of  very  short  duration. 

Mr.  Newton  was  fully  convinced  that  this  attention  alone 
would  be  enough  to  preserve  his  health ;  and  hoped  that  ia 
tijiie  the  disposition  to  asthma  would,  without  any  other  pre- 


176  VKtil/I.'MJLE    DIET 

caution,  wear  off.  Bui  I  had  seen  enough  of  the  faUaoy  of  these 
expectations  to  indulge  in  such  hopes.  I  assured  him  repeatedly 
that  unless  he  attended  strictly  to  the  whole  of  the  regimen  he 
would  be  ultimately  disappointed. 

Therefore,  at  length,  after  many  scruples,  and  no  small  ap- 
prehension of  injury,  he  resolved  to  join  to  his  attention  to  the 
fluids  a  strict  vegetable  regimen.  The  immediate  motive  to  this 
was,  I  believe,  a  respect  and  confidence  in  my  opinion;  though 
I  apprehend  that  a  feeling  and  consciousness  that  his  health 
Avas  not  in  a  firm  state  concurred  in  determining  his  resolution. 
He  began  greatly  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  animal  food  toward 
the  close  of  1807,  and  became  very  strict  about  the  beginning 
of  the  following  summer  (1808). 

For  three  years  and  upward  after  this,  Mr.  Newton  had 
very  little  asthma.  Three  or  four  paroxysms  came  on  which 
were,  for  the  time  they  lasted,  as  severe  as  any  he  ever  suffered ; 
but  they  passed  oflf  very  quickly,  causing  a  confinement  of  two 
or  three  days  only. 

But  the  health  was  at  this  time  in  a  very  precarious  and  even 
critical  state.  The  pulse  was  commonly  very  rapid,  sometimes 
rising  even  to  120  strokes  in  the  minute.  There  was  frequently 
great  quickness  of  respiration,  with  copious  mucous  defluxions ; 
and  through  the  first  and  second  winters  he  kept  himself  prin- 
cipally within  doors,  being  afraid  to  expose  himself  to  the  cold, 
and  particularly  to  the  damps  of  the  evening.  But  though 
often  indisposed,  and  in  a  valetudinary  condition,  the  health 
gradually  and  progressively  amended  under  the  vegetable  regi- 
men. 

Toward  the  end  of  May,  1811,  Mr.  Newton  began  to  feel 
indisposed ;  the  lungs  became  loaded  with  phlegm ;  there  was 
a  sensation  of  heaviness  about  the  head,  and  excessive  itching 
about  the  eyes.  Going  up  stairs  caused  great  breathliness  and 
uneasiness.  After  two  or  three  uneasy  nights  he  experienced 
a  very  severe  aUack  of  asthma,  which  began  on  the  2d  of  June. 
The  head  was  drawn  spasmodically  forward,  as  in  the  former 
paroxysms,  the  pulse  was  so  quick  as  scarcely  to  be  counted, 
the  feet  swelled,  and  at  night  there  Avas  a  disposition  to  idle 
talking,  which  must  be  deemed  a  species  of  mild  delirium,  though 
he  was  in  a  measure  conscious  of  it.  The  stricture  on  the  breath 
was  great,  but  the  respiration  was  more  free  than  in  the  former 
severe  fits.  He  could  not,  however,  enter  a  bed  for  six  nights. 
Then  the  paroxysm  appeared  to  be  fast  declining.  But  it  re- 
turned again  with  nearly  as  much  violence  as  at  first.  For  the 
greater  part  o:' another  fortnight  lie  passed  his  nights  upright 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  177 

in  a  chair,  or  leaning  on  a  pillow  placed  on  a  table.  The  pulse 
continued  accelerated,  and  the  ankles  swelled,  the  eyes  inflamed, 
and  the  whole  habit  appeared  extremely  turgescent.  Walking 
ten  yards  caused  much  fatigue,  and  brought  on  shortness  of 
brccith.  But  about  the  21st  or  22d  of  the  month  the  expecto- 
ration became  free  and  copious,  a  mild  diarrhoea  supervened, 
and  all  the  symptoms  subsided.  He  continued  in  a  weak  but 
convalescent  state  for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  when  he  was  re- 
stored to  health. 

An  attack  of  this  kind,  after  having  submitted  to  the  most 
rigid  abstemiousness  upward  of  three  years,  was  enough  to 
shake  the  confidence  of  any  man  who  had  not  the  most  firm 
conviction  that  he  was  doing  the  only  thing  that  gave  him  a 
chance  of  ever  enjoying  health.  But  Mr.  Newton  was  conscious 
of  having  received  great  benefit  from  his  abstinence.  He  argued 
also  from  the  state  of  his  children,  and  said  "  That  regimen 
must  be  the  best  which  produces  such  health  and  strength  as 
are  visible  in  them."  He  therefore  persevered  in  his  habits 
with  unabated  zeal,  and  I  am  happy  to  say  he  has  received  the 
due  reward  of  his  confidence  and  perseverance ;  for  though  he 
appeared  thin  and  meagre,  he  had  for  ten  months  very  good 
health ;  and,  as  I  heard  him  say,  now  for  the  first  time  during 
twenty  years  he  passed  a  winter  wholly  free  from  his  old  dis- 
order. He  was  not  only  without  asthmatic  paroxysms,  but 
without  any  material  difficulty  of  respiration. 

But  the  following  June,  1812,  brought  back  at  the  very  same 
period  a  relapse  of  the  disorder.  The  general  features  of  the 
paroxysm  very  nearly  resembled  that  of  the  preceding  year, 
and  its  duration  was  about  as  long.  But  it  was  by  no  means 
so  violent  at  its  access,  and  he  recovered  from  it  with  much 
more  facility.  As  soon  as  the  disease  had  passed  through  its 
usual  stages,  he  felt  well.  It  was  also  preceded  by  little  or  no 
indisposition.  During  this  attack  the  pulse  was  much  accele- 
rated ;  at  one  time  it  mounted  to  118  strokes  in  the  minute,  and 
was  rather  strong  and  full. 

Another  respite  as  perfect  as  the  former  succeeded,  in  which 
for  eleven  months  Mr.  Newton  enjoyed  perfectly  good  health, 
free  from  asthma  and  other  serious  illness ;  and  he  adhered  to 
his  regimen  with  greater  strictness,  if  possible,  than  ever.  Often 
has  he  made  his  dinn^er  on  a  little  fruit,  dried  raisins,  bread,  and 
three  or  four  potatoes ;  and  upon  this  strict  course  of  abstinence 
has  found  no  defect  of  strength  or  nutrition.  On  the  contrary, 
the  symptoms  with  which  he  has  been  occasionally  afficted  have 
Ijeen  accompanied  with  marks  of  plenitude  and  oppression;. 


17S  VEGETABLE    DIET      " 

'  The  siimc  month  of  June,  both  in  1813  and  1814,  and  ve-  > 
nearly  the  same  day,  brought  back  the  asthmatic  paroxysms. 
But  that  of  1813  was  very  mild.  Though  the  disease  hung 
upon  him  for  a  month,  the  confinement  to  the  house  was  not 
above  five  days.  He  had  again  an  interval  of  eleven  months 
of  very  good  health.  In  the  paroxysm  of  1814  I  did  not  see 
him,  Mr.  Newton  having  quitted  London.  But  from  the  account 
he  sent  me  of  it,  it  was  more  severe  than  daring  either  of  the 
two  former  years.  It  lasted  also  five  weeks.  Since  that  time 
he  has  been,  and  is,  comfortable  in  health. 

I  would  observe,  as  a  point  of  pathology,  that  the  sweUing 
of  the  legs  in  this  case  has  not  been  an  anasarcous  or  dropsical 
swelling.  The  whole  tumefaction  has  been  ten^e  and  elastic, 
not  yielding  or  pitting. 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  form  a  fair  judgment  (f  this  case, 
to  pass  in  review  its  most  striking  points.  They  are  shortly 
these.  Mr.  Newton  began  to  use  distilled  water  in  1805,  and 
adopted  the  complete  regimen  in  1808.  From  this  period  of 
1805  to  June,  1811,  he  had,  upon  the  whole,  very  Uttle  asthma, 
hardly  a  singular  regular  fit  of  any  duration ;  and  we  were  per- 
suaded that  the  disease  was  in  a  manner  eradicated.  But  to 
our  disappointment,  and  in  a  certain  degree  to  our  mortification, 
there  has  been,  now  for  four  years,  an  annual  paroxysm,  declin- 
ing upon  the  whole,  but  not  quite  uniformly,  in  severity.  It  has 
regularly  come  on  in  the  month  of  June,  which  whole  month 
it  occupies,  and  encroaches  a  little  upon  July.  Such  is  its  pre- 
sent habit,  and  such  we  may  suppose  that  for  the  present  it 
will  continue.  I  shall  briefly  attempt  to  explain  these  phe- 
nomena. 

First,  it  must  be  allowed,  that  the  great  freedom  from  asth- 
ma, for  near  six  years,  was  not  entirely  due  to  his  regimen. 
Diseases  we  know  will  change  their  forms.  Asthma  will  end 
in  consumption,  hydrothorax,  dropsy,  disease  of  the  heart,  or 
other  fatal  maladies.  It  is  obvious  from  the  delicacy  of  Mr. 
Newton's  frame,  and  the  great  severity  of  his  disease,  that  he 
is  not  formed,  undei'  common  habits,  for  long  life.  I  am  there- 
fore satisfied  that  there  was,  about  the  time  that  Mr.  Newton 
adopted  a  change  of  habit,  some  secret  constitutional  change 
which  concurred  Avith  his  diet  to  keep  off  the  asthmatic  parox- 
ysms. 

The  records  of  medicine  are  full  of  such  examples,  which, 
gave  occasion  to  much  fallacy  and  false  experience.  I  shall 
mention  one  which  lately  came  under  my  own  observation.  An 
elderly  gentlewoman  wa?  seized,  in  the  month  of  June,  1814, 


IN  ciiKONic  :isEASf:s.  170 

with  a  paralytic  disorder.  She  informed  me  thai  she  had  been 
subject  for  a  great  many  Avinters  to  a  cough,  attended  with 
copious  expectoration.  But  during  the  preceding  winter,  though 
the  most  rigid  that  had  been  experienced  for  many  years,  she 
was  wholly  without  her  cough.  It  would  be  easy  to  collect 
numerous  analogous  facts,  which  indicate  a  change  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  habits  of  the  constitution,  unaccompanied  by 
active  disease,  or  any  evident  external  signs. 

Now,  secondly,  we  have  seen  in  the  first  case  which  has 
been  related  that  gout,  which  had  been  many  years  latent,  and, 
as  it  were,  dormant  in  the  constitution,  became  active  and  evi- 
dent, producing  its  proper  symptoms  of  pains  and  lameness,  as 
the  first  effect  of  the  vegetable  regimen.  I  am,  therefore,  fur- 
ther satisfied  that  in  Mr.  Newton's  case  something  similar, 
though  less  obvious,  took  place,  and  that  the  first  effect  of  the 
vegetable  regimen  was  to  re-establish  the  asthmatic  paroxysms. 
Whatever  is  a  person's  habitual  disease,  is  to  that  person,  rela- 
tively, a  state  o/  health;  and  such  disease  cannot  disappear 
without  an  evidently  sufficient  cause,  without  a  suspicion  that 
it  will  be  followed  by  something  worse.  If  therefore  the  hypo- 
thesis be  just,  it  must  follow  that  this  re-establishment  of  the 
regular  asthmatic  paroxysms  was  the  sign  of  an  improved  state 
of  the  constitution. 

If  it  be  asked,  finally,  what  this  gentleman  has  really  gained 
by  his  strict  course  of  temperance  and  abstinence,  I  answer 
that,  1st.  Life  has  been  prolonged,  and  that,  probably,  several 
years.  If  I  am  right  in  supposing  that  there  was  a  constitu- 
tional change  about  the  year  1805,  we  may  calculate  that  there 
have  been  five  or  six  years,  at  least,  already  gained.  It  is  im- 
possible, however,  to  demonstrate  this,  and  therefore  I  shall  not 
dwell  upon  it.  2d.  Instead  of  being  an  habitual  invalid,  Mr. 
Newton  has  enjoyed  several  years  of  relative  comfort  and  good 
health,  using  much  exercise,  and  walking  occasionally  several 
miles  in  the  day.  His  frame  is  delicate ;  his  pulse  habitually 
too  rapid.  He  furnishes  another  example  of  its  being  impossi- 
ble to  reduce  the  pulse  to  its  natural  standard  by  regimen. 
3d.  Instead  of  being  the  constant  victim  of  asthma,  rarely 
escci'pi-ng  a  paroxysm  for  three  months,  Mr.  Nev.'ton  has  had 
but  one  annual  paroxysm  for  the  last  four  years,  besides  the 
interval  of  almost  total  cessation  for  five  previously.  Those 
advantages  he  deems  an  abundant  compensation  for  all  the 
deprivations  which  sensualists  may  suppose  he  has  imposed 
upon  himself. 

I  cannot  withhold  offering  in  this  place  a  conjectuy^  wkl^ 


180  VEGETABI.fc:    VlluT 

regard  to  the  regular  recurrence  of  the  asthmatic  paroxysm  at 
the  same  period  of  the  year,  which  has  occurred  now  for  four 
successive  years. 

I  suppose  that  it  is  allowed  that  the  lungs  themselves  are 
the  primary  seat  of  the  disease ;  and  I  will  suppose  further 
that  the  membrane  investing  the  bronchiae  and  the  air  vesicles 
of  the  lungs  is  the  part  immediately  affected.  It  must  be  pre- 
sumed that  this  membrane  is  liable  to  the  same  sort  of  diseases 
as  the  other  membranes  of  the  bod^  ;  but  the  consequences  will 
depend  upon  the  particuhir  situation  and  functions  of  the  part. 

Now  among  other  affections  of  membranes  there  is  one  which, 
though  not  very  obvious,  is  not  often  adverted  to ;  it  is  that 
there  takes  place  a  species  of  exfoliation  or  sloughing  ;  the  mem- 
brane is  destroyed,  it  is  thrown  olT,  and  is  regenerated.  This 
whole  process,  of  course,  takes  up  some  time,  during  which 
there  must,  of  necessity,  be  a  derangement  of  the  functions,  and 
I  suffering  of  the  individual. 

We  see  this  phenomenon  on  the  external  surface  of  the  body ; 
the  epidermis  peels  off;  and  occasionally  preserves  its  continuity, 
and  the  form  of  the  part  which  it  invested.  It  comes  off  the 
hand  or  foot  like  a  glove  or  stocking.  At  other  times  it  sepa- 
rates in  flakes,  which  is  a  daily  occurrence.  But  the  intestinal 
evacuations  give  us  more  frequent  and  incontestible  evidence  of 
the  same  fact.  Every  one  must  have  observed,  occasionally, 
membranes  evacuated  preserving  the  form  of  the  intestine.  It 
is  much  more  common  at  the  close  of  a  diarrhcea  to  observe  a 
number  of  flakes,  or  films,  floating  in  the  liquid  matter  of  the 
stool.  This  is  commonly  the  solution  and  termination  of  the 
disease.  These  films  can  be  nothing  else  than  an  exfoliation  of 
the  internal  or  mucous  membrane  of  the  intestine. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  stomach  itself  is  subject 
to  a  similar  affection,  though  it  is  not  possible  to  ascertain  the 
fact  by  ocular  proof,  A  person  is  seized  with  a  constant  vom- 
iting, rejecting  every  thing  which  is  taken  into  it,  which  lasts 
perhaps  a  month  or  six  weeks.  It  will  then  cease,  as  it  were, 
spontaneously,  and  be  no  more  heard  of.  What  rational  ac- 
count can  be  given  of  such  a  phenomenon,  unless  it  be  what  I 
have  often  suspected  to  be  the  fact,  that  the  internal  coat  of 
the  stomach  exfoliates,  and  is  regenerated  ? 

I  have  had  reason  to  suspect  that  the  bladder  is  occasionally 
subject  to  a  similar  affection ;  and,  in  general,  that  none  of  the 
mucous  surfaces  are  exempt  from  it. 

We  may  readily  transfer  these  observations  to  the  mucoua 
membrane  lining  the  bronchiae.     It  gives,  I  think,  a  more  ra- 


IN    LilHuNlC    LilSEASEJ.  181 

tional  account  of  most  of  the  phenomena  of  the  astnmatic  par- 
oxysms than  any  pretended  spasm  upon  the  vessels  or  mem- 
branes. It  accounts  also,  not  inaptly,  for  the  regular  return  of 
the  disease.  We  know  that  the  vital  powers  of  all  newly 
formed  parts  are  weak.  It  is  therefore  easily  conceivable  that, 
under  whatever  circumstances  the  membrane  has  once  perished 
and  been  regenerated,  the  same  phenomena  will  recur  under 
similar  circumstances.  It  may  be  supposed  to  have  received 
the  same  sort  or  quantity  of  vital  power,  as  the  horns  of  the 
stag,  or  the  skin  of  the  snake.  It  is  enough,  however,  to  have 
thrown  out  the  idea. 

As  Mr.  Newton  has  himself  informed  the  public  that  he  has 
introduced  this  regimen,  which  I  recommend  to  the  valetudi- 
narians, as  the  regular  habit  of  his  family,  and  has  at  the  same 
time  announced  the  complete  success  of  the  experiment  at  the 
period  of  his  publication,  I  need  say  no  more  than  that  he  has 
continued  to  follow  the  same  course  now  for  nearly  four  more 
years,  and  that  the  result  has  continued  to  be  completely  satis- 
factory. More  perfect  and  even  robust  health  was  never  dis- 
played among  any  set  of  young  people.  The  female  head  of 
the  family,  to  whose  spirit,  independence,  and  intelligence  much 
of  the  emancipation  from  tlie  yoke  of  vulgar  and  destructive 
prejudices  must  be  ascribed,  enjoys  an  activity  of  mind  and 
body  rarely  equaled  in  her  sex.  Our  feeble  and  dehcate  coun- 
trywomen will  perhaps  be  shocked  when  they  learn  that  this 
lad}^  bred  up  in  habits  as  delicate  and  luxurious  as  the  most 
sensitive  of  themselves,  has  been  enabled,  during  the  course  oi 
this  present  year,  to  walk  thirty  miles  in  one  day.  She  has  a 
high  color,  and  is  full  of  flesh.  Such  are  the  real  mischiefs, 
and  such  the  debility,  which  are  the  consequences  of  a  vege- 
table regimen,  when  used  by  persons  of  good  health  and  of 
sound  constitutions. 

Since  the  publication  of  Mr.  Newton's  work,  another  child 
has  been  added  to  his  family,  who  is  now  three  years  old,  and 
who  has  been  dieted  on  the  same  plan.  This  child,  like  the 
others,  is  distinguished  for  health,  vigor,  and  beauty. 

Among  this  family  of  five  children,  there  has  been  during 
eight  years  one  example  of  an  external  disease.  It  was  my 
wish  arid  intention  to  give  a  detail  of  the  circumstances ;  but  I 
am  prevented  by  injunctions  with  which  I  feel  it  necessary  to 
comply.  I  must  content  myself,  therefore,  with  saying  that  it 
continued  some  months,  and  then  ceased.  During  its  course, 
the  general  health  continued  perfect.  We  order  regimen,  as 
was  properly  remarked  by  a  professional  gentleman,  who  was  a 


1 82  VEGKTABLE    DIKT 

witness  o:  the  facts,  for  the  salce  of  the  general  health.  As 
this  was  unaffected,  Juring  the  course  of  this  disease,' it  effected 
whatever  could  be  reasonably  expected  from  it. 

The  remainino'  children  have  suffered  nothinfj  but  the  most 
trifling  ephemeral  attacks,  hardly  worth  mentioning ;  real  ill- 
ness, such  as  to  require  confinement,  they  have  never  suffered. 
The  slight  affections  which  have  occurred,  have  been  just 
sufficient  to  prove  that,  had  they  been  treated  like  other  chil- 
dren, they  would  have  had  no  exemption  from  the  common  lot. 


CASE  VII. 

Cough,  Difficult  Breathing,  and  General  Debility. 

22d  November,  1814. — I  am  acquainted  with  this  case  only 
from  the  relation  of  the  patient,  the  disease  having  existed  be- 
fore I  became  acquainted  with  her.     It  is  shortly  as  follows : 

M ,  a  female  servant  of  Mr.  Newton's,  about  thirty-six 

years  old,  had  a  very  indifferent  state  of  health  ;  she  was  sub- 
ject to  very  bad  coughs,  and  had  twice  attacks,  which,  frt»m 
the  description  given  of  them,  I  judge  to  have  been  a  kind  of 
cynanche  laryngea.  She  had  great  stricture  and  difficulty  of 
respiration,  and  coughed  with  a  hoarse  and  croupy  noise,  the 
perspiration  at  the  same  time  running  off  her  foi-chead  in  tor- 
rents.   This  must  ha\e  been  about  the  years  1804  or  1805, 

This  woman,  living  with  and  being  the  nurse-maid  to  Mr. 
Newton's  children,  wa?  easily  persuaded  to  conform  to  their 
habits ;  and  the  consequence  has  been  very  salutary  to  herself. 
The  disposition  to  catarrh  is  removed ;  nor  has  she  again  had 
any  of  the  apparently  eroupy  attacks.  The  general  health 
also  very  much  improved,  and  lias  indeed  been  perfectly 
good. 

She  lost  neither  flesh  nor  color  from  leaving  ofi"  animal 
food,  and  the  strength  was  unimpaired.  She  is  a  woman  who 
looks  worn,  and  would  pass  for  several  years  older  than  she 
really  is.  But  this  appearance  was  formed  wholly  before  she 
adapted  her  nevr  habits. 


IN    CHUONIC    f)ISli.\3E8.  183 

CASE  VIII. 

Asthma,  Debility,  aud  Loss  of  Flesh. 

Sept.  16,  1813. — Mi*.  P ,  a  gentleman  resident  in  Lon- 
don, aged  thirty-four,  had  an  attack,  which  was  called  pleuritic, 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  ago.  After  this  illness,  he  found 
himself  subject  to  fits  of  asthma.  The  disease  increased  grad- 
ually upon  him,  and  during  the  years  1806  and  1807,  its  seve- 
rity was  so  great  as  t)  render  his  life  miserable.  During  these 
years  he  put  himself  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Bree ;  but  the  vio- 
lence of  the  disorder  continued  unabated.  In  the  beginning  of 
1808  he  consulted  me,  and  consented  to  give  a  fair  trial  to  the 
regimen  I  advise  in  chronic  diseases. 

I  found  him  thin  and  pallid,  and  witli  the  appearance  of 
languor.  The  bowels  were  habitually  bound,  and  the  evacua- 
tions foul  and  dark.  Besides  his  asthma,  he  complained  of 
frequent  pains  of  the  side.  But  the  pulse  was  not  accelerated. 
He  began  his  regimen  in  February,  1808. 

During  the  first  ten  months,  this  gentleman  experienced  no 
alleviation  of  his  disease.  It  was  to  this  case  I  alluded  in  my 
"  Reports  on  Cancer,"  p.  184,  in  these  words  :  "  But  in  a  third, 
nine  complete  months  have  elapsed  without  the  smallest  ap- 
parent alleviation  of  the  symptoms."  A  large  portion  of  this 
time  was  spent  under  the  paroxysms  of  this  painful  disease, 
breathing  with  rryach  difficult}'^,  unable  to  lie  down  in  bed,  and 
at  the  height  of  the  paroxysm,  the  legs  swelled.  This  last 
observation  was  made  by  Dr.  Frampton,  senior  physician  of 
the  London  Hospital,  who,  on  one  occasion,  saw  him  for  me. 

At  the  end  of  ten  months,  he  began  to  receive  sensible  bene- 
fit, and  he  enjoyed  an  interval  of  eight  months  of  improved 
health,  and  was  free  from  asthma.  He  then  suffered  a  rehipse 
of  considerable  severity;  the  asthma  returned,  so  that  for  a 
fortnight,  he  was  unable  to  get  into  a  bed ;  and  it  hung  upon  him 
ill  a  less  degree  for  six  weeks  or  two  months  longer.  This  re- 
lapse came  on  when  he  was  a  short  time  at  Cambridge ;  but  the 
connection  between  it  and  the  change  of  situation  was  not  at 
that  time  observed.  During  the  remainder  of  the  year,  he  had 
some  dyspncBa  daily,  but  nothing  that  amounted  to  asthma, 
or  that  prevented  him  from  lying  comfortably  in  bed  the  whole 
night. 

In  the  beginning  of  1810  he  had  another  asthmatic  paroxysm, 
hut  it  was  very  slight,  and  of  short  duration.     After  this  time 


184  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  health  greatly  improved.  During  the  nemainder  of  the  yeai 
he  was  free  from  asthma.  He  rose  in  the  morning  with  some 
thickness  of  breathing,  but  it  wore  off  in  two  or  three  hours. 

The  year  1811  was  also  passed  without  any  asthmatic  par- 
oxysm. He  was  often,  from  his  sensations,  imder  apprehensions 
that  it  would  return,  but  it  never  did  so  in  fact.  The  approaches 
to  the  disease  speedily  disappeared  by  an  easy  and  copious  ex- 
pectoration. About  this  time  smoking  of  stramonium  was  ex- 
tolled as  a  cure  of  the  asthma.     Mr.  P used  it,  and  found 

from  it  considerable  advantage.  It  relieved  the  breath,  and 
promoted  the  expectoration.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  In 
these  circumstances  it  is  hardly  possible  to  determine  what  was 
really  gained  by  this  practice. 

During  these  last  two  years  he  was  very  thin,  and  the  coun- 
tenance, which  was  naturally  pallid,  became  still  more  so,  with 
the  marks  of  a  diseased  habit  strongly  impressed  upon  it.  But 
in  1812,  the  appearance  much  improved,  the  color  became 
stronger,  the  expression  of  languor  vanished  from  the  face,  and 
he  was  sensible  of  a  considerable  increase  both  of  general  health 
and  of  bodily  strength.  The  tendency  to  asthma  appeared  very 
nearly,  if  not  wholly  conquered.  Under  these  circumstances 
he  went  on  a  party  of  pleasure,  at  the  end  of  the  spring,  to  the 
sea  side. 

He  had  not,  however,  left  London  two  days  before  his  asthma 
returned  with  all  its  attendant  circumstances.  The  breathing 
become  laborious,  and  for  a  fortnight,  nearly,  he  was  unable  to 
lie  down  in  his  bed.  He  returned  to  London  with  the  asthma 
still  upon  him;  in  town  it  quickly  dechned,  and  left  him. 

Since  that  time,  now  fifteen  months,  he  has  had  no  return  of 
asthmatic  paroxysm.  In  the  spring  of  1813,  he  had  some  thick- 
ness of  breathing,  which  was  an  approach  toward  his  old  dis- 
ease, but  it  did  not  force  him  to  quit  his  bed,  or  to  raise  him- 
self from  a  horizontal  posture.  The  general  state  of  health  is 
so  much  improved,  that  from  being  an  habitual  and  almost  a 
desperate  invalid,  he  is  habitually  and  permanently  well. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  immediate  exciting  cause  of  the 
asthmatic  paroxysm  which  took  place  in  1812  (the  only  circum- 
stance like  a  serious  return  of  the  disease  for  the  space  of  nearly 
four  years),  was  the  removal  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  London 
to  that  of  the  sea  coast.  Now  the  impurities  of  the  London  at- 
mosphere must  be  reckoned  an  unnatural  and  morbid  irritation 
to  the  surface  of  the  lungs,  and  that  this  irritation  causes  no 
uneasiness  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  power  of  habit. 
In  consequence  of  this  habit,  a  harmony  is  established  betweea 


'■ilk 


IN    CHRONIC    DIS£  VSES.  185 

the  different  surfaces  or  membranes  of  the  body,  and  the  sub- 
stances wliich  are  habitually  applied  to  them.  Uneasiness  is 
occasioned  wlien  this  harmony  is  disturbed  by  a  change  of  the 
properties  of  the  substances  applied.  We  may  see,  therefore, 
from  this  example,  how  inconsequently  we  reason  Avhen  we  sup- 
pose that  a  change  is  unwholesome  or  improper  because  it  may 
at  first  excite  uneasy  sensation. 

This  may  be  applied  to  the  food  and  the  drink  we  apply  to 
the  stomach,  as  much  as  to  the  air  applied  to  the  lungs.  The 
very  change  may  excite  uneasy  feeling,  though  the  new  habit 
may  be  much  more  salubrious  than  the  old  one. 

If  it  be  asked  what  proof  the  case  just  related  affords  of  the 
utility  of  the  distilled  water,  it  must  be  granted  that  it  affords 
none  which  is  direct,  for  there  was  certainly  no  perceptible  ad- 
vantage from  the  first  change  of  regimen.  But  the  fact  of  the 
cure  (for  such  it  may  very  fairly  be  called)  is  a  sufficient  proof 
of  its  utility,  since  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  vegetable  diet 
alone  would  not  have  effected  it.  Mr.  P.  had  received  the 
common  advice,  to  be  sparing  of  vegetables,  and  to  avoid  all 
fruit,  salads,  etc.  I  ventured  to  give  the  very  opposite  advice 
to  this,  and  no  detriment  whatever  has  been  observed  from  the 
use  of  matters  of  this  kind. 

16th  December,  1814. — I  have  great  pleasure  in  stating  tha*. 
this  gentleman  continues  in  greatly  improved  health,  and  with- 
out asthma.  It  may  be  said  that,  according  to  all  appearance, 
this  most  painful  and  dangerous  disease  has,  in  this  instance, 
been  fairly  subdued.  He  is  still  affected,  occasionally,  with 
pains  of  the  side,  and  the  bowels  are  not  quite  free.  But  the 
health  is,  upon  the  whole,  good,  and  the  general  appearance 
very  much  improved. 


CASE  IX. 

Paralysis. 


23d  September,  1813. — Mrs.  0 ,  a  married  lady,  aged 

about  forty-seven,  of  a  plethoric  habit  of  body,  was  attacked 
in  the  spring  of  1809  with  a  palsy  of  the  left  eye  and  cheek. 
She  could  not  close  the  eyelids  of  that  side,  and  the  mouth  was 
drawn  considerably  awry  on  the  opposite  side.  She  had  also 
frequent  vertigo,  so  that  she  was  under  continual  apprehensions 


m 


186  VEGETABLE    DIUT 

of  afresli  attack,  She  was  Wed,  cupped,  and  frequently  purged 
copiously,  and  put  upon  a  vegetable  diet.  But  by  this  plan  she 
felt  her  strength  impaired,  but  the  disease  showed  no  disposi- 
tion to  yield.  The  eyes  were  so  susceptible  of  the  light  that  she 
was  obliged  to  wear  a  shade.  Besides  this,  the  spirits  were  so 
low  that  she  was  the  prey  to  a  constant  melancholy.  The  mus 
cular  strength  was  entire. 

As  she  found  no  benefit  from  low  living,  she  had  resumed 
the  common  diet.  But,  at  my  suggestion,  she  returned  to  her 
vegetable  regimen  in  the  summer  of  that  year,  and  she  united 
with  it  the  use  of  distilled  water.  By  this  method  she  felt  no 
sinking  of  the.  strength.  In  about  two  months  she  began  to 
regain  some  power  of  closing  the  eyelids,  and  in  a  twelvemonih 
it  was  completely  restored.  But  during  the  whole  of  the  first 
year  she  continued  in  a  wretched  state  of  low  spirits,  looked 
extremely  ill,  and  continued  under  constant  apprehensions  of  a 
fresh  attack. 

After  this  time  the  amendment  of  the  general  health  became 
more  evident.  She  regained  her  looks,  from  having  been  pallid 
she  became  florid,  and  was  able  to  amuse  herself  and  to  attend 
to  her  domestic  occupations.  The  painful  impression  of  light 
upon  the  sensorium  was  removed,  so  that  the  shade  over  hei 
eyes  was  no  longer  necessary,  the  vertigo  in  a  great  measure 
disappeared,  and  her  great  lowness  of  spirits  was  removed.  But 
the  affection  of  the  sensorium  was  not  removed,  it  was  only  alle- 
viated. Frequent  pains  of  the  head  recurred,  for  which  she 
had  often  recourse  to  cupping. 

And  in  this  condition  she  has  continued  nearly  ever  since, 
the  general  health  rather  improving  than  otherwise,  enjoying  a 
state  that  is  comparatively  very  comfortable,  though  by  no 
means  restored  to  that  in  which  she  was  previous  to  the  attack. 

This  lady  has  neither  lost  flesh  nor  color  by  abstaining  from 
animal  food.  But  her  muscular  strength"  is  certainly  diminish- 
ed. It  is,  however,  to  be  considered  that  she  was  probably 
morbidly  strong  at  the  time  of  this  attack.  It  is,  indeed,  evi- 
dent that  a  person  may  have  too  much  strength,  as  well  as  too 
little.  In  such  cases,  to  have  this  unnatural  and  morbid 
strength  removed,  cannot,  with  any  appearance  of  reason,  be 
deemed  injurious. 

What  1  wish  particularly  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader 
to,  in  the  present  case,  is  the  phenomena  of  the  eye,  since  they 
afford  an  ocular  demonstration  of  the  effect  of  the  septic  poison 
of  water  on  the  system,  and  of  the  consequent  beneficial  effects 
of  the  distilled  water.     Palsy  is  one  of  the  diseases  which  I 


{\'    OUr.oMC    DlSEASEei.  187 

have  seen  ascribed  to  the  ?  idden  discontinuance  of  animal  food, 
by  writers  ^^ho  either  reason  at  random,  or  who  draw  hasty 
inferences  from  a  partial  view  of  facts.  The  charge  is  so  ob- 
viously groundless,  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  enter  into  a 
formal  refutation  of  it.  Nothing,  however,  is  more  certain 
than  that  palsies  have  taken  place  in  persons  Avho  were  living 
on  a  vegetable  diet.  Besides  the  common  experience  of  the 
poor,  who  can  claim  no  exemption  from  these  diseases,  direct 
evidence  has  been  given  of  this  fact,  by  persons  who  have 
adopted  a  diet  of  this  kind.  For  e'xample.  Dr.  Desaguliers  is 
recorded  to  have  bad  a  paralytic  attack,  after  he  had  used  a 
vegetable  diet  for  ten  months.  And  I  have  seen  myself,  in  the 
course  of  the  present  year  (1813),  a  woman  affected  very  nearly 
as  the  subject  of  the  present  case,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  cheek 
paralytic,  and  unable  to  close  the  eyelids  of  the  same  side. 
This  woman,  from  the  necessity  of  her  circumstances,  did  not 
use  animal  food  above  once  a  week  ;  and  her  palsy  therefore 
could,  with  no  degree  of  probability,  be  ascribed  to  it.  We 
must  look  then  to  other  causes  of  these  diseases. 

lYth  December,  1814. — I  understand  that  this  lady  continues 
in  improved  health ;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  her  for 
some  months. 


CASE  X. 

Tumor  of  the  Arm. 


23d  November,  1814. — A  medical  gentleman,  aged  thirty- 
seven,  has  had  for  a  number  of  years  a  tumor  on  one  of  his 
fore-arms,  which  had  caused  great  uneasiness.  It  was  at  first 
not  larger  than  a  pin's  head,  but  gradually,  in  the  course  of 
years,  has  increased  to  the  size  of  a  small  pea,  and  was  so  ex- 
quisitely painful  that  he  could  not  bear  it  to  be  touched. 
There  was  also  much  shooting,  and  other  uneasiness  through  it, 
independent  of  external  violence.  It  appeared  after  he  had 
grown  up,  but  while  he  was  a  very  young  man. 

This  gentleman  adopted  this  regimen,  but  from  other  motives, 
in  the  year  1809.  His  health  improved  very  greatly  under  it; 
but  for  the  whole  first  year,  there  was  no  sensible  change  in 
the  sensations  of  the  tumor.  It  was  equally  sensible  to  the 
touch,  and  had  the  s-ime  shooting  pains.     But  at  the  expiration 


iS8  VEGETABLE    DIET 

M'  the  Iwehemonth,  or  tho.reabouts,  it  became  greatly  soothed, 
and  finally  it  ceased  to  give  pain,  except  very  trifling,  occasion- 
ally, and  it  became  much  less  tender  to  the  touch. 

In  its  appearance,  this  little  tumor  remains  unchanged. 
He  thinks  it  has  increased  a  little  in  size ;  but  so  little,  that 
perhaps  he  is  mistaken.     It  is  still  no  larger  than  a  pea. 

Though  this  little  highly  painful  and  irritable  tumor  is  well 
known  to  the  surgeons,  and  occasionally  extirpated,  I  cannot 
find  that  they  give  it  any  specific  name,  which  must  be  my 
apology  for  the  general  appellation  giver,  to  this  case. 

This  gentleman  adopted  the  regimen  for  the  sake  of  his 
health,  which  had  been  very  considerably  deranged  for  some 
years.  I  shall  only  say,  in  general,  that  it  has  very  much 
improved  in  consequence.  But  I  do  not  think  the  symp- 
toms sufficientl)^  definite  to  make  it  proper  to  relate  them 
minutely. 

On  this  subject,  I  have  heard  him  assert  that  for  two  years 
before  he  changed  his  diet,  his  spirits  were  so  low  that  he  was 
unable  to  smile.  It  is  no  new  observation,  that  vegetable  diet 
has  been  useful  in  melancholic  disorders.  A  case  is  given  by 
Dr.  Lobb,  of  a  gouty  pain  of  the  stomach,  with  flatulency  and 
melancholia,  cured  by  vegetable  diet.  The  disorder  yielded 
in  a  few  months,  but  the  regimen  had  been  continued  fifteen 
years. 

He  has  also  been  in  the  habit  of  illustrating  the  superiority 
of  this  regimen  by  saying,  that  the  diff*erence  of  comfort,  ex- 
perienced between  it  and  the  common  mode  of  life,  is  quite  as 
great  as  what  persons  experience  between  the  common  mode 
of  life  and  directly  riotous  living.  At  the  same  time  he  ac- 
knowledges that,  for  the  pleasure  of  the  palate,  the  common 
mode  of  living  bears  the  palm.  It  may  however  be  doubted 
whether  this  be  not  the  mere  consequence  of  habit. 


SOME  REMARKS  ON  SCROFULA. 

The  observations  I  have  been  enabled  to  make  on  this  disease 
are  not  numerous.  Diseases  termed  scrofulous  are  for  the  most 
part  external,  and  fall  principally  under  the  care  of  surgeons. 
The  more  common  form  of  the  disease,  marked  by  tumors  or 
ulcers  about  the  throat,  however  disagreeable  or  tormenting,  is 


fN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  189 

not  a  dangerous  complaint.  The  stamina  in  such  a  disease 
may  be  strong ;  the  disease  often  subsides  entirely ;  and  the 
patient  may  hve  healthy  for  many  years.  On  this  account, 
such  subjects  can  bear  animal  food  and  fermented  liquors  ;  and 
the  current  of  prejudice  is  too  strong  in  favor  of  this  practice  to 
afford  any  chance  at  present  of  a  successful  resistance  to  it. 
Of  the  more  serious  affections,  terminating  in  death  or  mutila- 
tion, and  which  are  the  fit  objects  of  this  regimen,  I  have  not 
obtained  any  proper  examples. 

Scrofula  frequently  takes  place  in  children  who  are  confined 
nearly  to  vegetable  food.  It  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  evils 
charged  by  superficial  observers  upon  this  species  of  food.  In 
order  not  to  withhold  from  my  reader  some  of  the  most  con- 
fident assertions  which  I  have  met  with  on  this  subject,  I  shall 
here  insert  an  extract  from  a  work  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  which,  I 
suspect,  has  had  no  small  influence  in  forming  the  present  state 
of  public  opinion. 

"  Wlien  children  are  fed,"  says  Dr.  Beddoes,  *'  on  vegetables, 
with  little  or  no  admixture  of  animal  food,  they  die  in  great 
numbers  of  scrofulous  affections.  In  the  families  of  the  poor, 
who  cannot  command  better  aliment,  this  is  one  principal  cause 
of  mortality  ;  and  in  the  families  of  the  rich,  who  in  conse- 
quence of  the  erroneous  medical  notions,  sometimes  will  not 
allow  a  proper  proportion  of  animal  food,  scrofula  often  takes 
place  (though  in  a  slighter  degree,  for  it  is  checked  by  other 
circumstances),  and  the  foundation  of  consumption  is  laid. 
There  are  (as  a  writer  of  superior  merit  on  the  king's  evil  ob- 
serves), among  the  higher  classes,  some  who  keep  their  children 
to  the  fifth,  or  even  the  seventh  year,  upon  a  strict  vegetable 
and  milk  diet,  believing  that  they  thus  render  the  constitution 
signal  service.  I  have,  however,  frequently  pointed  out  to  pa- 
rents, whom  I  have  heard  boasting  of  the  advantages  of  this 
management,  either  an  enlarged  abdomen,  or  some  other  sign 
of  an  incipient  scrofulous  indisposition,  which  has  convinced 
them  that  their  children  were  far  from  being  so  healthy  as  they 
supposed.  In  our  temperate  latitudes,  a  diet  of  this  kind  is 
certainly  not  proper  after  the  age  of  two  years.  Where  a  feeble 
constitution  coincides  with  hereditary  disposition  to  scrofula, 
or  rickets,  tender  meat  and  soups  are  particularly  serviceable. 
Dr.  Weikard  perfectly  agrees  with  me  in  opinion.  He  observes, 
that  children  brought  up  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  great 
(without  animal  food)  are  particularly  liable  to  rickets.  Dr. 
Kuempf  attests,  that  by  animal  diet  he  has  restored  a  great 
variety    of  children,    who   had    been   dreadfully  reduced   by 


# 


190  "VEGETABLE    DIET 

water-gruel,  milk,  and  vegetables.  Dr.  Vogel  also  asserts, 
that  animal  food  is  falsely  held  to  be  a  cause  of  atrophy,  and 
that  children,  from  whom  such  food  is  withheld,  oftener  fall 
into  an  atrophy  than  those  to  whom  it  is  allowed.  [C.  G.  T. 
Kortam  de  vitus  scrophulosis.  I.  3.  50.)  These  testimonies 
may  be  received  with  fullei  assurance,  because  in  other  re- 
spects the  authors  are  strongly  disposed  in  favor  of  that  theory, 
which  still  not  unfrcquently  deludes  English  parents  with  the 
false  hope  of  rendering  the  blood  of  their  children  pure,  and 
their  humors  mild,  by  millet  pudding,  and  by  other  prepara- 
tions of  vegetable  substances  in  over-proportion." 

It  is  no  wonder  that,  with  such  strong  assertions  as  these 
staring  them  in  the  face,  parents  should  be  terrified  at  the 
thoughts  of  confining  their  children  to  vegetable  food  ;  and 
should  apprehend  that  they  were  inflicting  an  irreparable  in- 
jury on  the  dearest  objects  of  their  affection.  These  are  the 
doctrines,  which,  coming  from  what  has  been  thought  the  best 
authority,  pass  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  have  excited  such 
an  hostility  to  simple  nutriment.  It  is  therefore  incumbent  on 
me  to  examine  a  little  the  validity  of  this  accusation. 

"When  children  are  fed  on  vegetables,  with  little  or  no 
.admixture  of  animal  food,  they  die  in  great  numbers  of  scrofu- 
lous afl^ections."  It  is  difficult  to  disprove  assertions  to  which 
we  cannot  attach  definite  ideas.  Scrofulous  affections  are 
commonly  external  disorders,  unattended  with  danger.  What 
diseases  Dr.  Beddoes  understood  by  this  term,  is  not  very 
clear ;  I  will  suppose,  however,  fatal  chronical  diseases  attend- 
ed with  ulcerations,  or  abscesses,  as  lumbar  abscess,  psoas  ab- 
scess, white  swelling,  etc. 

T^fovv,  Dr.  Watt  has  given  us  (annexed  to  his  treatise  on  chin- 
cough)  a  register  of  all  the  deaths  of  children  to  the  age  of 
ten  years  at  Glasgow,  for  thirty  years.  The  diseases  are  ar- 
ranged under  the  folloAving  heads :  Small-pox,  Measles,  Chin- 
cougli,  Stopping,  Water  in  the  Head,  Teething,  Bowelhives, 
Still-born.  I  cannot  find  here  a  single  head  under  which 
these  fatal  "  scrofulous  aflfections"  can  be  properly  included. 
Though,  certainly,  some  such  diseases  must  in  thirty  years  have 
occurred,  and  even  not  unfrequentl}^  and  we  may  therefore 
allow  that  these  bills  are  defective,  yet  it  is  equally  evident 
that  such  cases  must  have  formed  a  small  proportion  indeed 
of  the  mass  of  mortality  in  childhood. 

The  London  bills  of  mortality  give  as  little  countenance  to 
this  assertion.  Let  us  take  a  single  year :  it  shall  be  the  first 
that  offers,  namely,  the  years  ll9o  and  1796,  which  are  the 


IN-    CilROMC    DldEASE3.  ^^/: 

first  found  in  Dr.  Willaa's  "  Reports  on  the  diseases  of  Lon- 
don." The  whole  mortality  of  London,  from  the  22d  of  De- 
cember, 1795,  to  the  iTth  of  December,  1796,  stated  in  the  bills, 
is  18,664/'^*  Of  these  there  are  stated  to  have  died  of  abscess, 
twenty-one;  sores,  four ;  ^cahI,  five ;  ulcers,  two;  rickets,  one: 
total,  thirty-tLj-ee.  These  are  the  only  heads,  out  of  this  great 
mass  of  mortality,  under  which  fatal  "scrofulous  affections" 
can  be  arranged.  Of  this  whole  mortality  of  London,  two 
thirds  of  the  deaths  jtake  place  before  sixteen  years  of  age. 
We  see,  therefore,  how  small  a  proportion  of  the  diseases  of 
early  life  are  fatal  "  scrofulous  affections." 

I  look  in  vain  for  a  private  authority  for  the  support  for  tlJs 
assertion.  Dr.  Woolcombo  has  given  a  catalogue  of  nearly 
5000  patients,  admitted  at  the  Plymoubh  public  dispensary, 
for  near  seven  years.  In  this  long  catalogue  there  are  found, 
arthropuosis,  one  ;  hydrarthus,  ten ;  rachitis,  nineteen  ;  scrofula, 
forty-one.  Of  chese  cases,  one  under  the  head  of  rachitis  is 
marked  as  having  been  fatal.  If  it  were  true,  that  "  great 
nurabera  '  of  children  die  of  this  sort  of  disorders,  we  should 
certainly  have  some  vestiges  of  the  fact,  either  ia  public  or  in 
private  records. 

In  opposition  to  the  accusation  of  vegetable  diet  causing 
tumefaction  of  the  abdomen,  I  must  testify  that,  twice  in  my 
own  family,  I  have  seen  such  swellings  disappear  under  a  vege- 
table regimen,  which  had  been  formed  under  a  diet  of  animal 
food.  I  must  refer  to  pp.  161  and  166  of  this  work.  These 
facts  I  cannot  but  regard  as  entitled  to  infinitely  more  atten- 
tion than  any  observations  on  the  poor,  who  are  addicted  to 
many  depraved  habits,  and  exposed  to  complicated  causes  of 
disease. 

We  may  judge  from  these  facts,  how  idle  and  ill  grounded 
these  apprehensions  really  are.  But  the  general  charge  of 
vegetable  diet  causing  scrofulous  disease  must  be  allowed  so 
much  weight,  as  to  amount  to  a  demonstration,  that  it  has 
often  been  observed  under  such  a  diet ;  and,  in  consequence, 
that  such  a  diet  has  of  itself  no  tendency  to  cure  it.  In  the 
last  four  years,  several  cases  of  glandular  swellings  have  oc- 
curred to  me  at  the  general  dispensary  ;  and  I  have  made  par- 
ticular inquiries  into  the  mode  of  living  of  such  children.  In 
the  majority  they  had  animal   food.     In  one  child,  of  under 

*  In  the  same  work,  the  total  number  of  deaths,  in  the  year  1796,  ia 
stated  at  19,228.  (See  Willaii  on  the  diseases  of  London,  p.  58.)  There 
must  be  an  error,  there(are,  ia  tha  .iumber  given  abovo  ;  but  it  does  not 
affect  the  argnmeat. 


f^  VEGETABLE    DIET 

two  years  of  age,  with  many  swellings  of  this  kind,  the  appe- 
tite for  animal  food  was  so  strong  that  the  mother  thought  it 
I'ight  to  check  it.  In  a  few,  there  was  hardly  any  animal  food 
given,  probably  from  poverty.  These  children  appeared 
healthy  ;  but  in  every  case,  except  one,  they  had  a  consider- 
able thirst  upon  them. 

To  those  who  think  that  animal  food  has  the  smallest  ten- 
dency to  prevent  the  appearance  of  glandular  swellings,  I 
recommend  the  consideration  of  the  follo\ving  facts  taken  from 
the  mouth  of  a  patient  of  this  institution,  on  whom  I  observed 
these  glandular  swellings  on  each  side  of  the  neck,  ftnd  was 
informed  that  they  existed  also  under  the  armpits,  and  in  the 
groins. 

T.  L.,  aged  twenty-one,  lived  till  he  was  fourteen  years  old 
^vith  his  father,  the  head  servant  or  w^orkman  in  the  warehouse 
of  a  wholesale  druggist.  Being  one  of  a  large  family  living  on 
servant's  wages,  their  diet  was  principally  vegetables ;  the 
family  had  commonly  some  meat  on  Sundays,  but  scarcely  on 
any  other  day.  Their  drink  was  chiefly  water.  Under  this 
manner  of  life  he  was  without  disease,  but  was  not  a  strong 
hearty  boy.  At  fourteen  he  was  put  apprentice  to  a  goldsmith. 
Here  he  had  meat  daily,  as  much  as  he  chose,  for  dinner ;  his 
drink  was  small  beer,  but  he  was  allowed  a  little  porter  on 
Sundays,  The  consequence  was  that  he  improved  considerably 
in  strength  and  in  appearance ;  and,  as  he  expresses  it,  he 
thought  himself  becoming  quite  a  hearty  lad.  This  increased 
strength  and  apparently  improved  health  lasted  nearly  two 
years.  After  that  it  began  to  decline.  Though  the  diet  con- 
tinued unchanged,  the  strength  diminished ;  and  he  is  certain 
that,  now  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  is  not  so  strong  as  he 
was  three  years  ago,  at  eighteen.  He  is  not  now  able  to  raise 
weights  which  he  could  do  then. 

Besides  this,  mark  well  the  sequel.  During  the  second  year 
of  his  living  on  the  fuller  diet,  while  he  was  flattering  himself 
that  he  enjoyed  so  much  better  health,  these  tumors  above 
mentioned  tirst  appeared  uj|on  him.  And  they  have  continued 
ever  since,  nearly  as  they  are  at  present. 

We  see  then,  first,  that  though  tlie  strength  may  be  increased 
by  animal  diet,  yet  the  increased  strength  may  not  continue 
though  the  diet  be  continued.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  a  sort 
of  oscillation,  the  strength  first  rising  and  then  sinking  again. 
This  is  what  is  experienced  by  the  trainers  of  boxers.  A  certr.in 
time  is  necessary  to  get  these  men  into  condition  ;  but  this  con- 
dition cannot  be  maintained  for  many  weeks  together,  though  the 


IS    CHRONIC    DI3EASKS.  193 

process  by  which  it  was  formed  is  continued.  The  same  is 
found  to  hold  in  the  training  of  race  horses  and  fighting  cocks. 
Increasing  the  stiength,  then,  is  no  proof  of  salubrity  of  diet. 

Now  let  us  suppose  this  young  man  had  had  these  marks  of 
scrofula  upon  him  while  he  resided  at  home.  It  would  most 
commonly  have  been  ascribed  to  the  poorness  of  his  diet ;  the 
appearance  of  increased  health  and  strength  upon  a  fuller  course 
of  living  would  have  been  brought  in  support  of  this  opinion  ; 
and  it  would  have  been  probably  said  that  if  he  had  had  the 
benefit  of  a  good  dinner  of  animal  food,  daily,  these  marks  of 
scrofula  would  not  have  appeared.  The  facts,  however,  are  in 
direct  opposition  to  this  supposition ;  for  the  signs  of  scrofula 
first  appeared,  as  I  have  stated,  when  he  was  under  the  strong- 
est influence  of  the  apparently  beneficial  change  introduced  by 
the  animal  food. 

With  equal  confidence  has  this  writer  enjoined  the  use  of 
animal  food  to  prevent  consumption,  as  he  would  fain  persuade 
us.  He  says,  "  In  cases  where  habitual  weakness  or  the  history 
of  the  family  gives  reason  to  apprehend  consumption,  one  of 
the  most  indispensable  rules  of  preservation  is  to  use  animal 
food  freely.  There  seems  no  limit  to  the  quantity  but  the  indi- 
cations furnished  by  the  palate,  and  the  power  of  the  digestive 
organs.  More  should  not  be  given,  more  will  not  be  taken 
than  is  relished."  One  can  hardly  help  staring  with  astonish- 
ment at  seeing  such  directions  as  these ;  when  we  see  examples 
daily  of  young  persons  becoming  consumptive  who  never  went 
without  animal  food  for  a  single  day  of  their  lives ;  and  consider 
that  such  is  the  constant  habit  of  this  country,  where  consump- 
tion destroys  its  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands. 

If  the  use  of  animal  food  were  necessary  in  northern  latitudes 
to  prevent  consumption,  we  should  expect  that  where  the  peo- 
ple liv^ed  almost  entii-ely  upon  such  a  diet,  the  disease  would 
be  unknown.  Now  the  Indian  tribes,  visited  by  Mr.  Hearne,  live 
in  this  manner.  They  do  not  cultivate  the  earth.  They  subsist 
by  hunting,  and  the  scanty  produce  of  spontaneous  vegetation. 
But  among  these  tribes  consumption  is  common.  Their  dis- 
eases, Mr.  Hearne  informs  us,  are  principally  fluxes,  scurvy,  and 
consumption.     But  to  return  to  my  present  subject. 

Scrofula,  as  affecting  the  whole  constitution,  is  to  be  con- 
sidered, probably,  as  a  disease  of  organic  power.  If  a  bone  ex- 
foliates, for  example,  or  a  membrane  loses  its  proper  structure, 
as  the  cornea  of  the  eye,  there  was  probably  some  original 
organic  defect.  But  the  more  common  phenomenon  of  glandu- 
lar swellings  and  suppurations  is  attributed,  probably  \/ith  jus- 
9 


194  VEGETABLE    DIET 

lice,  to  a  vitiated  state,  or  acrimony  as  it  is  called,  of  the  lymph. 
It  is  to  be  considered  that  the  lymph  is  not  merely  the  exu- 
dation into  the  various  cavities,  which  is  reabsorbed,  but  the 
parts  of  the  body  which,  being  no  longer  fit  to  continue  a  part 
of  the  living  system,  are  to  be  eliminated  and  thrown  out  of 
the  body.  The  sohd  parts  of  the  body  must  l>ecome  fluid 
before  they  are  absorbed  and  form  part  of  the  lymph.  The 
lymph,  therefore,  must  be  considered  in  part  as  a  dead,  or  at 
least,  a  dying  part  of  the  system ;  and  hence  it  may  readily  be 
conceived  to  acquire  occasionally  a  degree  of  virulence  or  poi- 
sonous acrimony ;  to  be  already,  as  it  were,  cadaverous,  and 
therefore  to  be  irritating  to  the  parts  through  which  it  passes. 

If  this  be  correct,  the  glandular  Svvellings  in  scrofula  are 
secondary  symptoms.  Indeed,  we  often  see  conjoined  to  the 
glandular'  swellings  in  the  neck,  scabs  or  sores  upon  the  scalp : 
and  the  thickness  of  the  upper  lip,  and  tumefaction  and  sore- 
ness of  the  nostrils,  are  so  frequent  as  to  be  esteemed  a  common 
symptom  of  this  disease.  It  is  not  improbable,  therefore,  that 
the  glandular  swellings  always  indicate  some  disease  of  the 
membranes,  cavities,  or  other  organs  from  which  the  lympha- 
tics originate.  It  is  not  impossible  that,  as  we  see  a  portion  of 
bone  perish  and  be  thrown  out  of  the  system,  so  a  membrane, 
or  other  soft  part,  may  occasionally  perish,  and  be  regenerated  ; 
it  is  possible  that  this  process  may  take  place  without  any  ex- 
ternal signs  of  it,  and  that  during  such  a  process  the  lympha- 
tic glands  may  be  irritated,  tumefy,  and  suppurate. 

Upon  such  a  theory  of  scrofula,  as  this  view  of  the  phe- 
nomena points  to,  there  is  no  immediate  connection  as  cause 
and  effect  between  impure  water  and  scrofula.  Impure  water 
does  not  directly  cause  the  scrofula ;  nor  are  we  to  suppose  the 
glandular  swellings  to  be  occasioned  by  foreign  matter  passing 
through  the  glands  irritating  and  inflaming  them.  But  the 
putrescent  matter  of  water  acts  on  the  scrofulous  habit  as  upon 
others  ;  only  the  scrofulous  habit  appears  to  be  more  than  com- 
monly irritable.  This  matter  is  a  depressing  power ;  the  tone 
of  the  body  is  diminished  by  its  action ;  the  radical  powers  of 
the  fibres  are  either  destroyed  or  greatly  impaired ;  of  many 
parts  the  structure  is  altered ;  of  others,  the  very  substance  is 
destroyed.  But  these  processes  are,  in  no  circumstances, 
chemical  processes,  but  universally  vital  processes. 

This  connection  has  been  so  often  asserted,  that  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  it  has  been  really  rejnarked,  that  scrofulous  dis- 
orders are  abundant  where  the  \^ater  is  very  impure.  Dr. 
Beddoes  has  furnished  us  with  two  such  authorities,  which  I 


I\    CilROXrC    DISEASES.  195 

shall  copy.  He  says,  "  Hard,  selenitic,  and  calcareous  waters 
have  been  given  out  by  respectable  observers  for  a  cause  of 
scrofula.  M.  de  Luc,  for  instance  (Lettres,  I.  17),  remarks, 
that  where  he  has  found  incrusting  or  petiifying  springs,  there 
the  people  were  scrofulous."  The  following  passage  is  anony- 
mous :  "  Quod  vere  assertum,  hcet  ad  strumas  potissimum  ende- 
mias  pertineat,  nullus  tamen  dubito  tales  aquas  etiam  diatheseos 
scrofulosae  evolutionem  promovere,  malumque  augere  posse. 
Gottingae  scrofulse  frequentissimae  sunt;  aquae  vero  ibidem 
scaturientes  calcareis  particuhs  insigniter  abundant." 

But  though  the  facts  be  granted,  there  appears  an  error  in 
the  mode  of  conceiving  the  operation  of  impure  water.  As  I 
have  said,  impure  water  does  not  cause  scrofula  specifically,  but 
impure  water  excites  and  brings  into  action  the  diseased  pro- 
pensities of  the  constitution,  whatever  they  may  be,  which  pro- 
pensities, but  for  the  application  of  this  morbific  power,  might 
have  continued  dormant  and  quiescent. 

These  truths  will,  perhaps,  be  more  evident  by  considering 
the  particulars  of  the  following  case.  I  have  already  brought 
it  forward  as  a  proof  of  the  quickness  with  which  an  ulcerated 
surface  feels  the  substitution  of  pure  to  common  water.  The 
further  contemplation  of  the  phenomena  enlarged,  and,  in  a 
measure,  corrected  the  opinions  I  had  formed  when  I  published 
the  former  facts  concerning  it. 


CASE  XL 

Scrofulous  Ulcer  of  the  Arm. 


I  HAVE  noticed,  at  p.  1*70  of  my  "Reports  on  Cancer,"  a  lad 
named  John  Milner,  a  miserable  object  from  an  inveterate  scrof- 
ula. I  have  there  described  the  case.  I  shall  here,  therefore, 
produce  only  some  of  the  facts  which  appeared  during  the  course 
of  the  treatment. 

This  lad  had  a  large  ulcer  on  his  arm.  Under  the  regimen 
(which  was  undertaken  October  19,  1808),  on  November  31st 
this  ulcer  ceased  to  discharge,  and  in  a  week  or  two  more  it 
cicatrized.  But  during  the  following  year  the  cicatrix  often 
gave  way,  the  part  became  sore,  and  again  discharged,  and  in 
a  few  days  again  healed.  The  same  event  took  place  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1810,  after  which  time  the  sore  healed  completely,  and 


196  VEGETABLE    DIET 

lias  since,  I  am  informed,  continued  well.  But  though  I  attri- 
bute the  very  speedy  drying  up  and  cicatrization  of  the  ulcer 
to  the  regimen,  I  cannot  ascribe  the  complete  cicatrization  to  it, 
as  there  were  marks  of  old  cicatrices  on  his  body.  Tliere  may 
therefore  have  been  power  in  the  constitution  finally  to  heal 
this  ulcer. 

In  this  boy,  the  left  ear  was  incrusted  with  a  large  scab,  so  as 
Tvholly  to  conceal  the  interior  parts  of  it.  In  ten  months  the 
crust  was  removed,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  ear  came  into 
view,  and  it  appeared  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  lobe  had 
been  destroyed.  What  remained  appeared  sound,  being  covered 
with  newly  formed  skin.  But  this  skin  soon  gave  way,  and  the 
the  crust  or  scab  was  renewed.  In  February,  1810,  it  again 
fell  off,  the  ear  again  appeared  sound,  and  so  it  continued. 

About  the  same  time,  all  the  diseased  parts  were  in  an  im- 
proving and  heahng  condition.  The  ulcerations  on  the  left  side 
of  the  face  got  quite  well.  One  remained  on  the  right  side, 
which  was  skinning  over,  and  the  general  improvement  was  so 
visible  that  the  master  of  the  workhouse  expressed  more  than 
once  his  satisfaction  at  it.  But  a  large  portion  of  the  skin  re- 
maining preternaturally  red,  the  appearance  of  the  boy  continued 
to  be  very  unpleasant.  And  about  this  time  I  found  that  the 
boy  was  becoming  inattentive  to  the  rules  which  had  been  laid 
down  for  him.  The  master  of  the  house  told  me  of  this  circum- 
stance ;  and  the  father  of  the  lad,  one  of  the  rudest  of  the  vul- 
gar, was  discontented  at  the  restraints  imposed,  and  had  deter- 
mined to  put  him  a  second  time  into  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital. 
Under  these  circumstances  I  thought  it  would  be  more  instruc- 
tive to  observe  the  case  when  it  was  again  left  to  itself.  He 
went  into  the  hospital  this  spring. 

Here  he  underwent  a  mercurial  course  for  a  month,  but  with- 
out any  change  for  the  better  or  the  worse.  On  his  being  re- 
turned to  the  workhouse,  I  certainly  expected  to  observe  the 
ulcer  on  the  right  cheek  quickly  becoming  worse ;  but  I  was  in 
error,  for  the  ulcer  still  continued  in  a  healing  state  for  five 
months  at  least,  when  it  was  very  nearly  well.  All  the  other 
parts  likewise,  which  had  been  diseased,  continued  sound  and 
well. 

From  this,  with  several  other  analogous  observations,  which 
I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  relate,  it  appears  how  different  is 
the^  agency  of  substances  upon  the  living  body  from  the  action 
of  inert  matter,  whether  it  be  mechanical  or  chemical.  The 
changes  which  are  produced  by  mechanical  or  chemical  agents 
are  necessarily  simultaneous,  or  immediately  consequent  upon 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASED.  197 

the  application  of  a  new  force  or  cause  of  change.  But  in  the 
living  body  no  such  coincidence  can  be  traced ;  the  effects  of  a 
morbific  cause  remain  long  after  the  cause  has  ceased  to  be  ap- 
plied ;  and,  in  like  manner,  the  influence  of  an  anti-morbific  cause 
continues  sensible  long  after  it,  likewise,  has  ceased  to  be  ap- 
plied. 

In  the  case  before  us  the  fact  appears  to  have  been,  that  a 
more  healthy  regimen  had  strengthened  and  invigorated  the 
powers  of  life.  This  increase  of  inherent  power  could  only  be 
destroyed  graduall}^,  by  the  application  of  the  common  morbific 
causes,  to  which  the  human  system,  under  our  common  habits, 
is  constantly  exposed.  Therefore,  till  this  increase  of  power 
was  totally  destroyed,  and  the  system  brought  down  completely 
to  its  ordinary  level,  the  effects  of  the  more  healthy  regimen 
continued  to  be  apparent. 

This  ulcer  then  failed  to  give,  what  I  was  looking  for,  an 
ocular  proof  of  the  influence  of  the  pure  water.  However,  at 
the  end  of  about  five  months  it  ceased  to  cicatrize,  and  began 
again  to  spread.  But  upon  the  left  eye  of  this  boy  I  obtained 
the  proof  I  wished  for. 

Tlie  eyelid  of  this  eye,  before  the  regimen  was  undertaken, 
was  much  distorted,  being  drawn  at  its  outer  angle  downward 
and  outwai'd.  While  the  regimen  \wis  observed,  this  deformity 
ceased,  and  the  eyelid  gained  its  proper  position.  But  gradu- 
ally, after  it  had  been  abandoned,  the  deformity  returned,  and 
in  about  five  or  six  months  it  was  exactly  as  it  had  been  at 
first. 

After  this  period  I  ceased  to  observe  him.  I  have  met  him, 
accidentally,  nearly  in  his  former  condition,  as  he  remains  at 
present,  allowing  for  the  difference  of  years. 


CASE  XII. 

Scrofulous  Ulcers  of  the  Neck. 


About  the  end  of  the  year  1810,  G.  S.,  a  boy  about  twelve 
years  old,  was  recommended  to  me  by  the  kindness  of  the  late 
Dr.  Garthshore.  He  had  many  glands,  on  each  side  of  the 
neck,  inflamed,  ulcerated,  and  discharging  an  ichor.  In  one  of 
them,  in  particular,  was  a  hole  large  enough  to  put  the  end  of 
a  finger.     The  other  ulcers  were  more  superficial. 


198  VEGETABLE    DIET 

This  state  of  the  glands  appeared  occasioned  by  a  diseased 
state  of  the  scalp,  on  which  there  were  several  sores  and  scabs. 
It  extended  in  some  measure  to  the  eye  and  eyelids.  More 
than  once,  about  this  period,  they  inflamed,  and  the  eyelids 
tumefied  so  much  as  to  close,  for  a  time,  the  eyes. 

The  regimen  had  upon  this  boy  the  same  effect  as  on  the  last 
subject.  The  ulcers  were  quickly  dried  up,  and  they  soon  be- 
gan to  cicatrize.  In  half  a  year,  the  boy  was  able  to  leave  off 
all  the  coverings  about  his  neck ;  and  all  the  ulcers  were  com- 
pletely healed,  except  that  which  had  been  so  deep.  In  two 
or  three  more  months,  this  became  well  also ;  and  nothing  re- 
mained but  a  redness  about  the  parts.  The  scabs,  however, 
continued  upon  the  scalp.  They,  no  doubt,  afterward  came 
off,  but  when  I  cannot  exactly  say. 

This  boy  was  very  refractory,  and  discontented  with  the  re- 
straints imposed  upon  him.  At  the  end  of  the  twelvemonth, 
therefore,  the  regimen  was  given  up.  The  boy,  however,  con- 
tinued well,  as  I  saw,  at  least  a  year  and  a  half  after,  since 
which  time  I  have  lost  sight  of  him. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  probable  that  these  ulcera- 
tions would  have  got  well  under  common  regimen.  But  it  was 
evident  that  the  cure  was  accelerated  by  the  treatment.  It 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  disease  of  the  glands  was  oc- 
casioned by  the  condition  of  the  scalp  ;  and  it  could  not  have 
been  expected  that  they  would  become  sound,  before  the  in- 
teguments had  recovered.  But  the  fact  was  otherwise.  I 
would  not,  however,  infer  more  from  this  case  than,  first,  that 
it  shows  evidently  the  influence  of  the  pure  water  on  an  ulce- 
rated surface ;  and  secondly,  that  a  full  diet  of  animal  food  and 
fermented  liquors,  which  is  commonly  enjoined  in  such  cases, 
is,  to  say  the  least,  unnecessary. 

I  cannot  omit  this  opportunity  of  paying  a  small  tribute  of 
respect  and  gratitude  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Garthshore.  He 
was,  at  this  time,  the  oldest  member  on  the  college  list  resi- 
dent in  London.  To  me  he  was  wholly  unknown.  At  a  time 
>vhen  I  was  struo-o-llno-  in  vain  to  obtain  a  few  cases  suited  to 
my  object ;  when,  from  the  gentleman  to  whom.  I  had  shown 
the  facts  concerning  cancer,  I  received,  after  the  labor  of  years, 
a  cold  and  reluctant,  assent  I  cannot  call  it,  but  withholding 
of  contradiction  to  the  conclusions  wliich  were  pressed  upon 
me ;  when  another  practitioner,  a  physician  of  great  employ- 
ment, with  whom  I  had  lived  from  early  life  in  fraternal  famili- 
arity, preferred  putting  an  end  to  an  intimacy  of  five-and- 
twenty  years  to  supplying  me  with  a  single  pauper ;  at  thia 


IN    CHRCXIC    DISEASES.  /9 

time,  this  upright,  respectalle,  and  benevolent  old  ma^.came 
to  me,  sought  my  acquaintance,  encouraged  me  to  proceed  in 
my  inquiries  ;  told  me  how  much  the  elder  Heberden  would 
have  been  pleased  with  them  ;  and  promised  me  every  assist- 
ance in  his  power.  And  he  neglected  no  pioper  opportunity  of 
furthering  my  views.  The  very  last  act  of  his  life  was  an  at- 
tempt (it  proved  an  abortive  one)  to  serve  me ;  and,  as  he  be- 
lieved, by  serving  me,  to  promote  the  diffusion  of  useful  know- 
ledge. Thus  did  he  preserve  to  the  last  breath  the  principles 
which  had  guided  him  through  hfe  :  urbanity,  liberality,  integ- 
rity, the  love  of  truth,  and  an  ardent  desire  to  contribute  to- 
ward the  welfare  of  mankind,  and  diminish  the  mass  of  human 
misery.  Such  were  the  rules  of  his  conduct  and  leading  traits 
of  his  character. 

I  am  not  without  obligations  to  other  individuals,  which  I 
may  here,  not  improperly,  acknowledge.  Mr.  Crowther  pro- 
cured me  more  than  one  case  of  cancer.  Mr.  Piatt,  unsolicited, 
did  the  same  thing.  These  cases  were  such  as  might  have  led 
to  useful  conclusions,  had  the  patients  themselves  been  tracta- 
ble. Dr.  Latham,  also,  the  present  worthy  president  of  the 
college  of  physicians,  had  the  goodness  to  recommend  to  me  a 
subject  laboring  under  a  disease  of  this  kind ;  but  it  was  too  far 
gone  to  afford  any  chance  of  relief. 


CASE   XIII. 

Remarks  on  Cancer,  with  a  Case. 


I  FEEL  it  proper  to  premise  a  few  remarks  to  the  case  which 
is  next  to  be  related. 

It  has  become  less  necessary  for  me  to  bring  before  the  pub- 
lic many  additional  observations  on  this  disease,  as  Mr.  Aber- 
nethy  has  done  me  the  justice  to  recommend  the  method  of 
treatment  I  proposed  to  the  trial  of  surgeons,  to  whose  care 
these  cases  commonly  devolve.*     I  have  reason  to  believe  that 

*  The  following  is  taken  from  Mr.  Abernethy's  Surgical  Observations 
on  Tumors,  p  93  :  "  There  can  be  uo  subject  which  I  think  more  likely 
to  interest  the  mind  of  a  surgeon  than  that  of  an  eiKieavor  to  amend  and 
aUer  the  state  of  a  cancerous  constitution.  The  best  timed  and  best  con- 
ducted operation  brings  with  it  nothing  but  disgrace,  if  the  diseased  pro- 
pensities of  the  co/istitutiou  are  active  and  powerful.  It  is  after  an  ope- 
ration that,  in  my  opinion,  we  are  most  particularly  incited  to  regulate 


200  VEGETABLE    DIET 

it  lias  been  tried,  under  the  inspection  of  competent  judges, 
and  therefore  of  this,  as  of  every  other  proposal,  time  will 
ultimately  decide  the  merits.  At  present,  however,  with  regard 
to  the  experience  of  others  I  am  very  imperfectly  informed. 

I  do  not  wish  to  conceal,  that  the  testimony  which  Mr.  Aber- 
nethy  gave  to  the  accuracy  of  my  statements  (as  far  as  he 
was  concerned)  was  given  at  my  own  request.  P^or  it  is  a 
fact,  that  Mr.  Abernethy  was  so  struck  with  the  effect  of  the 
distilled  water,  in  the  case  of  cancer  that  he  put  into  my  hands, 

the  coustitution,  lest  the  disease  shoula  be  revived  or  renewed  by  its  dis« 
turbaiice.  In  addition  to  that  attention  to  tranquillize  and  invigorate  the 
nervous  system,  and  keep  the  digestive  organs  in  as  healthy  a  state  as 
possible,  which  I  have  recommended  in  the  first  voUime,  I  believe  gene- 
ral experience  sanctions  the  recommendation  of  a  mere  vegetable,  because 
less  stimulating,  diet,  with  the  addition  of  so  much  milk,  broth,  and  eggs 
as  seem  necessary  to  prevent  any  declension  of  the  patient's  strength. 

"  Very  recently.  Dr.  Lambe  lias  proposed  a  method  of  treating  cancer- 
ous diseases,  which  is  wholly  dietetic.  He  recommends  the  adoption  of 
a  strict  vegetable  regimen,  to  avoid  the  use  of  fermented  liquors,  and  to 
substitute  water,  purified  by  distillation,  in  the  place  of  common  water 
used  as  a  beverage,  and  in  all  articles  of  diet  in  which  common  water  is 
used,  as  tea,  soups,  etc.  The  grounds  upon  which  he  founds  his  opinion 
of  the  propriety  of  this  advice,  and  the  prospects  of  benefit  which  it  holds 
out,  may  be  seen  in  his  '  Reports  on  Cancer,'  to  which  I  refer  my  readers. 

"  My  own  experience  on  the  effects  of  this  regimen  is  of  course  very 
limited,  nor  does  it  authorize  me  to  speak  decidedly  on  the  subject.  But 
I  think  it  right  to  observe,  that  in  one  case  of  carcinomatous  ulceration  in 
which  it  was  used,  the  s^rmptoms  of  the  disease  were,  in  my  opinion, 
rendered  more  mild,  the  erysipelatous  infiammation,  surrounding  the 
ulcer,  was  removed,  and  the  life  of  the  patient  was,  in  my  judgment, 
considerably  prolonged.  The  more  minute  details  of  the  fact  constitute 
the  sixth  case  of  Dr.  Lambe'a  Reports. 

"  It  seems  to  me  very  proper  and  desirable  that  the  powers  of  the  regi- 
men recommended  by  Dr.  Larabe  should  be  fairly  tried,  for  the  following 
reasons : 

"  1st.  Because  I  know  some  persons  who,  while  confined  to  such  diet, 
have  enjoyed  very  good  health  ;  and  I  have  further  kn<jwu  several  per- 
sons, who  did  try  the  effects  of  such  a  regimen,  declare  that  it  was  pro- 
ductive of  considerable  benefit.  They  were  not  indeed  affected  with 
cancer,  but  they  were  induced  to  adopt  a  change  of  diet  to  allay  a  state 
of  nervous  irritation,  and  correct  disorders  of  the  digestive  organs,  upon 
wWch  medicine  had  but  little  influence. 

*'  2dly.  Because  it  appears  certain,  that  in  general  the  bodycan.be  per 
feclly  nourished  by  vegetables. 

"  3dly.  It  seems  sutficiently  ascertained,  that  diseases  have  in  some 
persons  been  excited  by  water,  and  therefore  it  is  desirable  that  what* 
ever  is  used  should  be  made  as  pure  as  possible. 

"  4lhly.  Because  all  great  changes  of  constitution  are  more  likely  to  be 
effected  by  alterations  of  diet  and  modes  oflife  than  by  medicine. 

"  Sthly.  Because  it  holds  out  a  source  of  hope  and  consolation  to  the 
patient,  in  a  disease  where  medicine  is  known  to  be  unavailing,  and  sur- 
gery  aftbrds  i:^  more  than  a  temporary  relief." 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  201 

that  he  made  upon  it  this  pointed  and  remarkable  declaration : 
**  I  cannot  be  insensible,"  he  said,  "  to  the  effect  of  this  treat- 
ment. Whether  it  will  cure  the  disease  or  not,  I  cannot  tell ; 
but  I  can  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  will  prevent  it." 

Mr.  Aberncthy,  in  consequence  of  what  he  saw,  ordered  the 
distilled  water,  at  this  time,  in  some  other  cases.  One  was  a 
case  of  cancer  of  the  rectum.  It  was  a  desperate  case,  in  the 
very  last  stage  of  the  disease  ;  and  the  patient  soon  died.  But 
the  sufterer  declared  that  it  gave  him  much  ease,  and  that  it 
was  the  only  thing  from  which  he  had  appeared  to  receive 
benefit.  This  declaration,  or  something  tantamount  to  it, 
Mr.  Abernethy  told  me,  with  the  addition,  "  that  he  should  at 
all  times  be  willinfr  to  acknowledo-e  it." 

o  o 

This  leads  me  to  mention  the  circumstances,  which  induced 
me  to  be  more  sanguine  with  regard  to  the  hoped-for  result  of 
cases,  that  were  very  far  gone,  than  was  justifiable  by  the 
event.  I  do  this  the  more  willingly,  in  order  to  guard  others 
against  a  similar  sort  of  deception,  which  will  certainly  occur 
again,  under  the  same  circumstances.  What  I  allude  to  is  as 
follows : 

In  cases  where  the  vital  powers  are  greatly  reduced,  the 
evident  change  induced  by  a  change  of  regimen,  and  the  ap- 
parent advantage  of  such  a  change,  is  incalculably  greater 
than  where  the  vital  powei's  are  more  perfect,  and  where, 
consequently,  the  immediate  danger  of  the  patient  is  much 
less.  This  fact  has  appeared  in  a  great  variety  of  examples. 
I  will  cite  a  few  that  were  remarkable. 

In  a  case  of  carcinoma  of  the  mamma,  a  middle-aged  woman 
adopted  the  regimen ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  pain, 
which  had  been  constant  and  severe  for  many  months,  was  re- 
lieved, and  almost  removed  in  one  fortnight.  Such  a  circum- 
stance could  not  but  cause  great  delight,  and  excite  hopes 
that  much  good  might  be  done  in  a  short  time.  But  these 
hopes  proved  fallacious.  The  woman  died  in  less  than  six 
months  ;  being  cut  off,  as  I  judged  from  correspondence,  by  a 
peripneumonic  affection. 

Another  woman,  laboring  under  ancites,  received  great,  and 
almost  instantaneous,  benefit  from  the  regimen.  The  abdomen 
began  quickly  to  diminish  in  bulk,  and  for  more  than  three 
months  she  appeared  to  improve  in  health  daily.  But  then  the 
b^efit  ceased,  new  symptoms  supervened,  and  in  less  than  an- 
other month  she  died. 

A  little  boy  of  about  four  years  of  age,  who  was  epileptic, 
was  made  to  try  the  same  plan  of  diet.  The  effect  was  highly 
9* 


202  VEGET.  BLE    DIST 

pleasing,  and  even  astonishing.  After  the  course  of  a  fortnight 
the  convulsions  wholly  ceased  ;  and  the  head,  over  which  he 
li  id  appeared  to  have  lost  the  power,  became  in  a  great  mea- 
sure upright.  But  he  continued  very  stupid,  with  the  sensibil- 
ity so  much  impaired,  that  he  seemed  scarcel}  to  be  impressed 
even  by  fire  applied  to  the  skin.  In  about  two  or  three  months 
the  lower  limbs  became  dropsical,  the  strength  failed,  and  the 
child  soon  died. 

These,  and  several  other  similar  events,  have  instructed  us 
how  little  dependence  is  to  be  placed  on  the  first  changes, 
however  imposing  they  may  be ;  they  soon  showed  that  these 
sudden  changes  denote  a  great  diminution  of  the  powers  of  life, 
and  would  not  have  taken  place  had  the  powers  been  perfect. 
In  fact,  the  cases  which  have  ultimately  succeeded  the  best, 
have  been  those  in  which  the  least  benefit  has  been  received 
suddenly ;  and  from  the  repeated  observation  of  such  facts,  I 
am  now  much  better  contented  to  be  told,  in  a  bad  case,  that 
little  or  no  relief  has  been  received,  it  may  be,  in  several  months, 
than  the  contrary. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  observation  which  caused  the  ac- 
knowledgment, which  Mr.  Abernethy  made  to  me,  was  similar 
to  those  I  have  just  mentioned.  These  declarations  were  made 
in  the  year  1805  ;  and  I  was  therefore  not  precipitate  in  ex- 
pecting that,  when  Mr.  Abernethy  was  publishing  on  the  sub- 
ject of  cancer  in  1811,  he  should  take  the  opportunity  of  ac- 
knowledging that  in  the  statement  of  facts  to  which  he  had 
been  a  witness  I  had  been  scrupulously  observant  of  the  truth. 
In  that  interval,  the  defect  of  the  original  proposal  had  been 
detected,  and  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  to  have  tried  the 
power  of  the  regimen,  and  to  have  ascertained  in  a  good  mea- 
sure what  it  would  really  eflPect. 

But  though  the  recommendation  which  Mr,  Abernethy  gave 
was  at  ray  suggestion  and  request,  he  alone  is  answerable  for 
the  terms  in  which  it  was  given.  In  particular,  when  he  says, 
"  It  is  after  an  operation  that  we  are  more  particularly  incited 
\o  regulate  the  constitution,"  it  is  what  I  can  by  no  means  as- 
sent to.     But  more  of  tliis  presently. 

Mr.  Abernethy  says  also  on  this  subject :  "  I  believe  general 
experience  sanctions  the  recommendation  of  a  more  vegetable, 
because  less  stimulating  diet,  with  the  addition  of  so  much  milk, 
broth,  and  eggs  as  seem  necessary  to  prevent  any  declension 
of  the  patient's  strength."  On  such  a  subject,  Mr.  Abernethy  is, 
of  course,  much  better  informed  than  myself.  But  he  certainly 
never  informed  me  of  this  general  experience ;  nor  did  I,  dur- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  203 

mg  my  attendance  on  the  case  which  Mr.  Abernethy  put  into 
my  hands,  receive  from  him  the  shghtest  hint  of  such  an  opi- 
nion. No  traces  of  such  an  opinion  are  to  be  found  in  Mr. 
Abernethy's  works,  previously  pubhshed ;  not  even  in  the 
second  edition  of  his  treatise  "  On  the  Constitutional  Origin  and 
Treatment  of  Local  Diseases,"  published  in  1809,  when  he  had 
seen  the  progress  of  the  case  we  attended, 

Nor  was  a  diet  of  this  kind  recommended  generally  in  cases 
of  cancer  even  by  Mr.  Abernethy  himself,  previous  to  the  pub- 
lication of  my  "  Reports."  In  proof  of  this  I  can  say,  the  lady 
whom  we  attended  was  eating  animal  food,  commonly  twice  a 
day,  under  the  mistaken  notion  of  supporting  the  strength,  be- 
fore it  was  resolved,  at  my  suggestion,  to  change  her  diet  in 
February,  1806.  This  was  under  Mr.  Abernethy's  OAvn  eye. 
I  do  not  say  it  was  done  by  his  advice.  He,  I  believe,  never 
inquired  into,  nor  gave  any  directions  on  the  subject.  I  will 
further  say  that,  had  it  not  been  for  my  strenuous  application, 
this  recommendation  would  not  have  been  given,  even  in  the 
place  in  which  it  has  appeared. 

I  do  not  doubt,  however,  that  it  is  the  practice  of  the  best 
surgeons  to  order  a  mild  diet  in  these  diseases.  I  have  already 
cited  the  authority  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell  to  this  point.  Other 
writers  have  likewise  recommended  such  a  regimen.  "  We 
moderate,"  says  one,  ''  the  effects  of  cancer  in  every  stage  by 
an  antiphlogistic  diet."  Another  writiu*  says,  "  In  the  mean 
time,  the  patient  should  live  abstemiously,  avoiding  animal  food, 
wines,  spirits,  and  fermented  liquors,  as  heating,  stimulating, 
and  tending  to  increase  pain  ;  a  milk  and  vegetable  diet,  there- 
fore, in  such  cases,  is  the  most  proper."  In  a  passage  of 
Cheselden's  anatomy,  cited  in  the  posthumous  work  of  Mr. 
John  Howard,  it  is  said :  "  In  desperate  cases  where  we  can- 
not extirpate,  we  find  the  best  remedy  is  plentiful  bleeding 
(which  also  is  Nature's  last  resort),  gentle  constant  evacuations 
by  stool,  and  a  vegetable  diet,"  And  in  this  work  of  Mr. 
Howard's  is  the  following  passage  :  "  Except  when  a  stimulus 
IS  required,  in  chlorosis,  the  diet  in  cases  where  there  is  a  can- 
cerous tendency  cannot  be  too  strictly  cooling.  If  it  consisted 
wholly  of  vegetables,  farinaceous  substances,  and  milk,  many 
lives  might  be  saved,  or  at  least  prolonged ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  majority  of  patients  in  this  predicament  have  an  un- 
natural Jippetite  for  luxurious  eating,  and  this  exasperates  the 
disease." 

But  notwithstanding  this  concurrence  of  opinion  of  respect- 
able writers,  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  not  true  that  it  is  any  thing 


204  VEGETABLE    DIET 

like  the  common  practice  of  surgeons  in  general  to  recommend 
even  such  a  diet,  as  Mr.  Abernethy  has  said  is  **  sanctioned  by 
general  experience.'*  I  could,  if  necessary,  bring  the  direct 
proof  of  the  contrary,  but  I  am  restrained  from  motives  which 
are  very  obvious. 

Nor  indeed  is  this  wonderful,  when  we  consider  how  triflitig 
is  the  relief  w^iich  such  a  diet  can  be  thought  to  afford.  It  is 
very  doubtful  whether  i*  would  give  any  relief  to  the  pain 
which  forms  so  distressing  a  feature  of  the  disease.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  the  strictest  vegetable  regimen,  unaided  by  vther 
attention,  will  not  prevent  the  formation  of  a  carcinomatous 
tumor,  nor  its  regular  progressive  increase,  nor  its  final  ulcera- 
tion. It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  patients  should  be  unwill- 
ing to  submit  to  restraints  which  appear  to  them  to  produce 
little  or  no  advantage.  That  the  disease  goes  through  its 
stages  in  the  usual  manner,  while  the  patient  is  confined  to 
vegetables,  may  be  safely  inferred  from  the  silence  of  writers 
who,  had  the  contrary  been  the  case,  could  not  have  failed  to 
inform  us  of  it. 

Indeed,  I  have  myself  had  ocular  proof  of  the  fact.     In  the 

spring  of  1810,  I  saw  Mrs.  M ,  the  wife  of  a  tradesman 

living  near  Westminster  Bridge,  laboring  under  a  large  ulcer- 
ated cancer,  with  the  breath  much  oppressed,  as  is  usual  in 
the  last  stages  of  the  disease.  This  woman  had  lived  almost 
entirely  upon  vegetable  diet  her  whole  life.  She  had  an  aver- 
sion to  anhnal  food.  She  would  take  a  little  fish  sometimes, 
but  very  rarely.  Her  own  account  was  to  the  foUoAving  pur- 
port. "  When  I  lived  in  the  country,  I  was  very  healthy ;  but 
as  soon  as  I  began  to  drink  the  Thames  water  my  health  began 
to  fail,  and  I  have  not  been  in  good  health  since."  I  am 
obliged  to  Dr.  Richard  Reece,  for  introducing  me  to  this  pa- 
tient, and  he  saw  her  with  me.  I  think  it  right  to  add,  in  fa- 
vor of  her  vegetable  regimen,  that  I  never  saw  more  placidness, 
cheerfulness,  and  resignation  under  the  appearance  of  so  much 
suffering. 

Mr.  Abernethy's  luminous  description  of  this  disease  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired  with  regard  to  its  general  history.  I 
could  have  wished  that  he  had  spoken  with  more  decision  on 
the  most  important  feature  of  the  disease — the  manner  in  which 
It  spreads.  The  facts  which  I  showed  him  throw  much  light 
on  this  point,  but  they  require  to  be  verified  and  multiplied. 
Mr.  Abernethy  cites  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Hunter,  wdth  apparent 
approbation  :  "  That  a  disposition  to  cancer  exists  in  the  sur- 
rounding parts,  prior  to  the  actual  occurrence  of  the  diseased 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  205 

action.  This  remark,  which  is  verified  by  daily  experience,  led 
to  tht:  rollowing  rule  in  practice — That  a  surgeon  ought  not  to  be 
contented  with  removing  merely  the  indurated  or  actually  dis- 
eased part,  but  that  he  should  also  take  away  some  portion  of 
the  surrounding  substances,  in  which  a  diseased  disposition  may 
prrobably  have  been  excited." 

If  the  disease  be  propagated  by  contamination,  a  part,  which 
is  tainted,  communicating  disease  to  the  parts  in  contact  with 
it,  this  practice  must  be  injudicious.  But  if  the  spreading  of 
the  disease  be  from  internal  causes,  foreign  to  the  part  itself,  it 
is  equally  clear  that  this  removal  of  the  parts,  to  whatever  ex- 
tent it  be  carried,  cannot  prevent  the  recurrence  of  the  disease. 
Let  us  attend  then  to  the  eridence  of  a  most  impartial  and  up- 
right observer,  who  has  left  us  among  others  the  following 
history. 

"  A  lady,  between  fifty  and  sixty,  the  wife  of  a  surgeon,  of  a 
melancholic  temperament,  lusty,  using  little  exercise,  and  living 
luxuriously,  felt  pain,  and  perceived  a  small  degree  of  hardness 
in  one  breast.  The  whole  breast  was  taken  off,  within  a  fort- 
night after  it  was  first  noticed.  Upon  examination  after  re- 
moval, there  was  neither  extravasation  nor  glandular  indura- 
tion, but  a  thickening  and  a  hardness  of  what  seemed  to  be 
more  like  condensed  diseased  cellular  membrane  than  any 
thing  else  to  which  I  could  compare  it.  The  axillary  glands 
were  not  affected,  nor  was  the  tumor  of  great  size,  and  it  was 
perfectly  movable. 

"If,  in  this  case,  the  indurated  part  only  had  been  removed, 
without  taking  away  the  whole  of  the  mamma,  I  should  not 
have  wondered  at  a  relapse ;  but  when  the  operator  went  clearly 
beyond  the  apparent  extent  of  the  disease  in  every  direction — 
when  he  dissected  the  whole  from  the  pectoral  muscle,  so  as 
to  leave  the  fibres  of  that  muscle  bare,  and  that  too  at  an  early 
period  of  the  disease — I  say,  when  all  these  circumstances  were 
considered,  it  was  matter  of  astonishment  to  me  that  the  un- 
fortunate sufferer  did  not  obtain  a  cure.  But  the  fact  was 
otherwise." 

This  is  not  a  solitary  example.  In  the  same  work  in  which 
the  writer  appears  to  have  recorded  the  experience  of  his  life, 
are  nine  or  ten  other  cases,  in  which  the  disease  repullulated 
after  operations.  This  circumstance  is  inexplicable  on  the  hy- 
pothesis of  the  unsound  parts  contaminating  the  sound.  But 
they  occasion  no  difficulty,  if  we  suppose  (as  I  have  done)  the 
progress  of  the  disease  to  be  from  internal  causes.  Is  it  not 
indeed  revolting  to  common  sense  to  suppose  that  cutting  oft* 


206  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  breast  can  counteract  the  effect  of  luxurious  living  ?  This 
would  be  truly  a  matter  of  astonishment. 

This  fact  is  of  itself  enough  to  make  us  doubt  whether  this 
disease  be  propagated  by  oont?mination,  which  is  the  most 
common  doctrine  of  surgeons.  The  belief  in  this  doctrine  it  is 
which  makes  them  so  anxious  to  remove  every  particle  of  a 
diseased  breast,  in  which  any  degree  of  hardness  is  perceptible. 
And  the  almost  uniform  failure  of  the  operation  was,  for  a  time, 
often  attributed  to  a  defect  in  this  respect.  I  suppose,  how- 
ever, that,  at  present,  very  few  are  disposed  to  maintain  this 
opinion. 

On  the  mode  in  which  the  disease  is  propagated  there  may 
be  three  distinct  hypotheses  proposed.  1st.  It  may  be  sup- 
posed that  there  is  a  poison  generated  in  the  part,  which,  being 
absorbed,  infects  the  constitution.  This  may  be  true  in  part, 
but  cannot  be  so  entirely ;  for  in  that  case  excision  would  be  a 
radical  cure.  2d.  The  diseased  part  may  be  thought  to  injure 
the  neighboring  parts  by  simple  contact,  the  diseased  part 
being  a  sort  of  focus  or  centre  of  diseased  action.  This  is  cer- 
tainly the  prevailing  opinion  of  surgeons ;  but  it  is  as  little 
tenable  as  the  first  hypothesis.  3d.  All  the  phenomena  may 
be  thought  to  be  the  eifect  of  internal  causes,  remote  from  the 
part  itself,  and  common  to  this  with  other  chronic  diseases.  If 
this  be  true,  these  causes,  being  common  causes,  there  can  be 
no  specific  poison  of  cancer.  And  such  I  conceive  to  be  the 
truth,  and  to  afford  a  just  explanation  of  the  symptoms  of  the 
disease.  I  must  leave  the  proofs  of  it  to  the  judgment  of 
others. 

We  are  constanJ,ly  deluded  by  language.  We  say  a  person 
dies  of  a  cancer ;  which  is  just  as  true  as  when  we  say  that  the 
sun  rises  in  the  east  and  sets  in  the  west.  The  truth  must  be 
that  a  person  dies  of  the  causes  of  cancer ;  and  the  cancer  is 
not  the  cause,  but  the  mode  of  dying. 

Mr.  Howard  has,  in  so  many  words,  maintained  the  same 
doctrine  as  myself,  that  there  is  no  specific  poison  of  cancer. 
He  says,  "  If  the  cause  of  some  cancers  be  a  virus,  I  suspect  it 
is  not,  strictly  speaking,  sui  generis,  as  the  small-pox,  but  an 
affection  of  the  elephantiasis  kind." 

But  I  not  only  coincide  with  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Hunter,  that 
there  is  a  morbid  change  in  the  parts  in  which  there  is  no  mani- 
fest change  of  structure,  but  contend  that  this  change  is  the 
very  essence  of  the  disease ;  and  that  upon  this,  as  upon  a  foun- 
dation, the  whole  superstructure  of  morbid  action  is  built.  I 
have  already  cited  in  favor  of  this  doctrine,  the  phenomenon  in 


,N    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  207 

Case  II.  of  my  "  Reports,"  in  which,  under  the  regimen,  one 
mamma  apparently  sound  perished  by  absorption,  while  the 
otlier  was  in  a  state  of  ulceration.  I  therefore  not  only  say, 
with  Mr.  Hunter,  that  there  is  a  morbid  change  in  the  parts 
Burrounding  the  tumor,  but  in  distant  parts  also,  not  contiguous 
to  any  tumor.  This  may  be  called,  if  it  be  thought  right,  dis- 
position* 

The  phenomena  of  carcinoma  of  the  eye  illustrates  this  fully. 
"  When  the  fungus  hsematodes," — which  is  I  presume  another 
name  for  carcinoma — "  takes  place  in  children,  they  are  gene- 
rally found  to  have  entirely  lost  the  affected  eye,  before  it  is 
remaiked  by  the  parents."  This  is  the  evidence  of  Mr.  War- 
drop.  To  the  same  purpose  Mr.  Ware  says,  "  that  in  the  be- 
ginning of  carcinoma  of  the  eye  in  adults,  the  sight  is  lost,  and 
the  disease  at  first  seems  simply  a  gutta  serena,  without  pain 
or  discoloration."  Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  first  stage  of  the 
disease  is  a  loss  of  power  of  the  simple  fibre,  or  radical  struc- 
ture of  the  part  afiected ;  and  (as  I  have  said)  upon  this  the 
change  of  organization  is  built. 

Removing  the  parts,  then,  in  which  this  diseased  disposition 
is  supposed  to  exist,  does  not  secure  the  patient  from  a  return 
of  the  disease,  nor  does  it  form  any  solid  justification  of  this 
operation.  "  If  after  the  removal  of  cancer,"  says  Mr.  Aber- 
riethy,  "  when  the  operation  has  been  properly  performed,  the 
cicatrix  remains  healthy  for  five  or  six  years,  or  even  for  a 

*  By  disposition  to  disease  as  contra-distinguished  to  action,  must  be 
meant  the  state  of  the  fibres  previous  to  any  change  that  is  obvious  to  the 
senses.  Mr.  Hunter,  I  believe,  was  the  first  who  used  this  language,  and 
insisted  on  these  diflerent  conditions  of  diseased  parts.  He  argu:3d,  par- 
ticularly with  regard  to  syphilis,  that  we  were  able,  by  the  application 
of  the  specific,  to  cure  the  action,  but  not  the  disposition.  This  doctrine 
seems  the  offspring  of  the  spirit  of  generalization,  carried  too  far.  It 
seems  impossible  to  lay  down  any  general  rule  on  this  subject;  but  many 
facts  show  that  the  one  laid  down  by  Mr.  Hunter  cannot  be  correct  in  its 
full  extent.  A  single  course  of  mercury  often  radically  cures  syphilis. 
It  is  probable,  in  all  such  examples,  that  some  parts  were  only  disposed 
to  disease,  while  others  had  taken  on  diseased  action.  But  further,  where 
there  has  been  an  obvious  infection,  and  the  parts  have  got  well  by  the 
power  of  the  specific,  sores  have  broken  out  even  on  parts  that  were  not 
infected,  which,  by  their  habit  and  history  under  treatment,  have  proved 
not  to  be  syphilitic.  See  Hunter  on  the  Venereal  Disease,  p.  247,  second 
edition.  The  only  rational  account  that  can  be  given  of  this  is,  that  these 
parts  have  been  contaminated,  that  is  to  say,  in  Mr.  Hunter's  language, 
disposed  to  disease ;  that  the  syphilitic  taint  had  been  cured  by  the  mer- 
curial course ;  but  that  the  parts  had  been  so  injured  in  powers,  that  they 
ulcerate,  and  are  gradually  thrown  out  of  the  system.  Here  then  wo 
appear  to  have  evidence  that  the  disposition  can  be  cured  as  well  as  the 
action.     In  other  cases,  no  dcubt,  Mr.  Hunter's  doctrine  is  correct. 


20S  ^'EGETABLE    DIET 

shorter  period,  and  beojmes  indurated  and  carcinomatous,  etc." 
Mr.  Abernethv,  of  course,  would  not  have  mentioned  such 
results,  as  the  consequences  of  the  operation,  unless  he  had 
seen  fact;:  to  warrant  the  assertion.  But  it  is  certain,  that  the 
*'  cicatrix  remaining  healthy  for  five  or  six  years,"  must  be  a 
very  rare  occurrence.  Half  a  year,  a  year,  or  two  years  is  the 
more  common  interval.  Even  two  years  is  a  long  period.  But 
granting  that  a  patient  has  continued  well  six  years,  it  proves 
nothing  in  behalf  of  this  operation.  I  have  seen  myself,  within 
these  last  four  years,  a  woman  with  a  cancerous  mamma,  in 
wliom  the  disorder  had  continued  eight  years.  The  whole 
breast  was  a  hard  lump,  the  skin  was  reddened  and  adherent, 
but  it  never  ulcerated,  and  the  woman  died  with  little  suffering, 
complaining  principally  of  breathlessness  upon  going  up  stairs. 
Here  then  was  a  slow  proceeding  case,  of  which  the  result 
showed  that  no  advantage  would  have  been  gained  by  oper- 
ating. 

In  another  case  the  disease  went  through  all  its  stages,  from 
a  small  knot,  no  larger  than  a  pea,  to  the  death  of  the  patient, 
in  fifteen  or  sixteen  months. 

The  only  ground  of  justification  of  this  operation  is,  that  it 
saves  the  patient  the  misery  of  an  ulcerated  cancer.  This,  un- 
doubtedl}^  is  an  ample  justification  of  the  practice,  as  it  has 
hitherto  been  establit-hed  in  surgery.  If  it  has  afforded  so  for- 
tunate a  result  only  every  second,  third,  or  fourth  time,  it  may 
have  been  right  to  give  the  patient  the  chance.  But  I  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  peculiar  regimen,  which  I  pro- 
posed for  this  disease,  will,  if  adopted  in  time,  prevent  this  hor- 
rible, ulcerating,  self-destroying  process.  Of  course,  with  ex- 
perience so  limited  as  that  Avhich  I  possess,  I  should  not  be 
justified  in  making  general  assertions.  Cancer,  like  all  other 
diseases,  is  subject  to  infinite  variety  of  forms.  In  certain 
states,  either  of  constitution  or  of  age,  it  must  be,  at  all 
times,  hopeless.  Other  subjects  may  be  relatively  favorable. 
According  to  my  best  judgment,  the  subject  of  the  following 
relation  presented  a  specimen  of  the  disease,  which  was  perfect 
in'kind,  and  which  might  be  said  to  hold  a  middle  rank  as  t(? 
malignity,  and  which,  had  the  disease  been  allowed  to  follow 
its  common  course,  would  have  terminated,  as  they  invariably 
do,  probably  before  the  present  period. 

January  16,  1815. — A  lady,  now  in  her  forty-fifth  year,  re- 
quested  me  to  examine  her  right  breast,  in  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary, 1810.  She  was,  in  appearance,  healthy,  with  a  fine 
color,  and  fleshy,  withou",  being  grossly  corpulent.     She  told 


IX    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  209 

me  that  this  breast  had  been  uneasy  from  the  age  of  fourteen. 
She  was  the  mother  of  many  children,  some  still  very  young, 
and  had  nursed  them  ;  but  suckling  with  this  breast  had  always 
given  a  good  deal  of  pain.  Now,  for  six  months,  she  had  suf- 
fered very  severe  pain,  in.  one  spot,  about  the  centre  of  the 
breast,  but  below  the  nipple.  On  this  point  she  could  place 
her  hand,  and  was  sensible  of  a  degree  of  thickening  and  en- 
largement. The  pain  was  so  severe  as  to  deprive  her  much  of 
rest.  She  could  not  raise  her  arm  to  her  head,  nor  put  it  be- 
hind her  to  adjust  her  dress,  with  convenience,  nor  w:*^,hout 
aggravating  the  pain.  Lying  on  the  affected  side  at  night  also 
much  aggravated  the  pain,  and,  indeed,  was  not  tolerable. 

Upon  examination,  I  found  the  disease  so  deeply  seated,  and 
the  subject  so  large,  that  I  could  determine  nothing  but  a 
general  thickening  about  the  seat  of  the  complaint.  But  the 
whole  breast  had  not  the  soft,  pliant,  and  healthy  feel  of 
the  sound  one.  It  was  more  flaccid,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
stringy.  A  slight  degree  of  handling,  also,  gave  much  un- 
easiness. 

Though  this  lady  looked  in  health,  it  was,  however,  by  no 
means  the  case.  The  respiration  was  not  strong,  and  she  was 
not  equal  to  taking  her  former  exercise.  The  legs  were  dis- 
posed to  swell.  She  was  troubled  with  spasmodic  pains  of 
the  stomach  ;  often  repeatedly  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  and 
every  third  or  fourth  month  she  had  more  serious  attacks, 
seated  in  the  organs  of  digestion ;  but  which,  having  never  seen 
her  under  them,  I  cannot  more  particularly  describe.  The 
bowels  were  habitually  bound.  She  had  also  be(  u  considera- 
bly troubled,  for  a  twelvemonth,  with  humors  (as  they  are 
termed)  affecting  various  parts  of  the  body.  The  most  trou- 
blesome was  a  thin  and  acrid  defiuxion  from  behind  both  ears. 
She  described,  on  one  occasion,  the  state  of  the  sensorium 
very  expressively,  though  the  sensation  was  such  as  is  never 
experienced,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  clearly  conveyed  to  a 
healthy  person.  She  felt,  she  said,  sometimes,  as  if  she  was 
out  of  herself. 

This  lady  began  the  regimen  in  the  above  month  of  January, 
1810.  During  this  year,  herself  and  her  friends  were  sensible 
that  her  general  health  improved.  The  bowels  became  open 
without  medicine,  and  the  spirits  rather  improved.  But  there 
was  no  change  in  the  local  disease.  She  thought  rather  that 
it  got  worse,  instead  of  better.  All  the  other  affections  con- 
tinued unabated.  However^  the  impiovement  of  her  strength 
encouraged  her  to  persev&vtv. 


210  VEGETABLE    DIET 

But  during  ttie  second  year,  1811,  the  pain  very  sensibly 
diminished  ;  it  no  longer  appeared  to  be  spreading,  and  the 
disease  to  be  becoming  deeper ;  but,  on  the  contrar}^  the  dis- 
eased part  seemed  to  be  looser,  and  the  pain  to  be  confined 
more  entirely  to  the  part  affected.  The  sores  beliind  the  ears 
dried  up.  But  the  eyes  became  sore  ;  the  diseased  action 
appearing  to  be  transferred  to  these  parts.  The  general  state 
of  health  was  far  from  good ;  but  now,  her  encouragement  to 
proceed  was  from  the  manifest  soothing  of  the  disease  of  the 
breast. 

The  year  1812  was  passed  nearly  in  the  same  manner:  the 
pain  in  the  breast  was  not  gone,  but  it  was  much  diminished. 
The  diseased  breast  was  quiet,  and  the  health  improved.  At 
this  time  she  became  pregnant ;  and  toward  the  end  of  the 
year  was  safely  delivered.  She  attempted  to  suckle  her  in- 
fant. The  attempt,  however,  caused  so  much  pain  in  the  dis- 
eased breast,  that,  in  the  same  circumstances,  I  would  not 
again  advise  it  to  be  made.  At  this  time,  a  redness  came  on 
the  surface  of  the  breast,  over  the  diseased  part.  The  infant 
did  not  live  many  weeks.  Some  time  after  its  death,  the 
breast  again  became  easy ;  more  so,  indeed,  as  she  said,  than 
it  had  been  for  years. 

About  this  time,  I  again  examined  it.  I  readily  now  found 
a  tumor,  and  of  considerable  magnitude,  I  think  of  the  size 
of  a  walnut. 

In  October,  1813,  she  had  a  kind  of  irregular  gout.  The 
wrists  and  hands  swelled,  with  some  pain,  but  without  redness. 
At  this  time  she  was  considerably  indisposed  ;  but  not  for  any 
length  of  time. 

In  November,  of  the  same  year,  a  few  pimples  appeared 
on  the  skin  of  the  diseased  breast.  But  they  did  not  continue 
permanent.  There  was  still  pain,  but  of  no  severity.  The 
general  health  continued  good. 

And,  at  this  time,  after  a  lapse  of  fourteen  months,  she  still 
complains  of  pain  in  the  part.  I  examined  it  about  Christmas, 
1814,  and  felt  a  small  thickening,  now  in  the  part  of  the  gland 
above  the  nipple,  and  nearer  the  sternum.  But  fhe  whole 
mamma  was  soft,  without  tumefaction,  inflammation,  or  any 
injury  of  the  skin.  The  pain  is  enough  to  give  her  uneasiness  ; 
but  not  enough  to  derange  the  health,  materially  to  encroach 
on  the  sleep,  nor  to  impede  any  of  tlie  functions  of  life.  The 
general  health  is  so  good  that  no  one  would  take  her  to  be  an 
invalid.  It  is  quite  as  good,  if  not,  indeed,  better,  than  it  was 
in  1810.     She  is,  in  the  countenance,  a  little  more  contracted. 


IN    OliRONIC    DISEASES.  211 

tnan  at  that  time,  but  not  materially  so  ;  and  is  thinner,  but 
without  any  emaciation. 

As  to  what  has  taken  place  in  the  gland  itself,  it  is  obviously 
difficult  to  speak  positively.  I  do  not  believe,  however,  that  the 
thickening-  which  I  felt  at  the  close  of  last  year,  1814,  is  the 
same  as  the  tumor  I  felt  about  two  years  before,  nor  still  that 
that  tumor  was  the  same  as  the  thickening  which  was  the  seat 
of  the  pain  in  1810.  The  situation  of  the  uneasiness  was  con- 
siderably different  at  each  examination.  There  have  been  times 
during  which  the  breast  has  been  almost  entirely  easy,  after 
which  the  pain  again  increased.  It  appears  probable,  there- 
fore, that  the  different  parts  of  the  gland,  in  which  there  was  a 
diseased  disposition,  have  taken  on  diseased  action  successively, 
and  that  each  successive  induration  has  resolved.  On  this  point, 
however,  I  would  not  speak  decisively. 

It  is  necessary,  now,  to  review  the  principal  circumstances  of 
this  case. 

1st.  This  disease  was  carcinoma.  Its  history,  both  as  a  local 
and  as  a  constitutional  disease,  proves  this.  The  previous  un- 
easiness of  the  part,  the  tumor,  the  severity  of  the  pains,  the 
extreme  tenderness  to  handling,  and  the  obstinacy  of  the  dis- 
ease, now  continued  for  a  series  of  years,  all  conspire  in  forcing 
this  conclusion.  We  must  suppose  that  active  disease  took  place 
in  this  breast,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1809,  when  the  pain 
became  so  severe  as  to  disturb  the  rest,  and  impede  the  motion 
of  the  arm.  The  constitutional  affections,  the  derangement  of 
the  organs  of  digestion,  the  tendency  to  anasarcous  swelling, 
the  state  of  the  sensorium,  are  equally  convincing  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  disease. 

2d.  I  am  equally  satisfied  that  at  this  time,  after  a  course  of 
five  years'  attention  to  this  regimen,  the  disease  continues  to  be 
truly  carcinomatous.  The  pain,  the  tumor,  and  the  highly  irri- 
table state  of  the  part  to  handling  prove  this  to  be  the  case. 
It  cannot  therefore  be  said  that  the  disease  is  cured. 

3d.  But  by  the  regimen  life  itself  has  been  probably  pre- 
served. Five  years  is  more  than,  upon  an  average,  such  a  case 
could  be  expected  to  last.  But  under  this  regimen  that  period 
has  elapsed,  and  the  health  is  as  good,  or  better,  than  when  it 
was  entered  upon. 

4th.  The  gland  has  been  preserved.  It  continues  uninjured, 
of  its  natural  form  and  appearance,  with  no  other  complaint 
than  a  trifling  induration,  not  readily  discoverable  by  exami- 
nation. 

5th.  It  is  a  consequence  of  this,  but  which  from  the  impor- 


212  VEGETABLE    DIET 

tance  of  the  fact  deserves  to  be  particularly  noticed,  that  in 
this  case  the  ulcerative  process  has  been  wholly  and  completely 
superseded. 

Such  have  been  the  facts  of  this  case ;  facts  which  I  must 
be  permitted  to  say  fully  corroborate  all  the  conclusions  which 
I  formerly  drew  regarding  this  disease.  I  must  refer,  therefore, 
those  to  whom  these  conclusions  are  unknown  to  my  "  Reports." 
They  are,  in  fact,  very  nearly  the  same  appearances  which  took 
place  during  the  long  attendance,  from  May,  1805,  to  October, 
1808,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Abernethy,  on  the  case  which  he 
put  into  my  hands,  due  allowance  being  made  for  the  different 
stages  at  which  the  cases  were  taken  up.  In  that  there  was  no 
fresh  ulceration  for  three  years  and  live  months ;  and  we  may 
assert,  therefore,  confidently,  that  there  too  the  ulcerative  pro- 
cess was  superseded.*  This,  I  say,  was  seen  by  Mr.  Aberrfccthy 
so  long  ago  as  the  years  1805  and  1806. 

The  event  of  this  case  takes  away  the  last  apology  for  the 
most  severe,  not  to  say  shocking  operation,  of  which  the  un- 
happy subjects  of  this  disease  have  been,  from  time  immemo- 
morial,  the  objects.  I  therefore  cannot  but  be  surprised  that 
that  gentleman,  having  seen  the  ulcerative  process  superseded 
in  that  case,  should  say,  "  It  is  afte?-  an  oj)eration  that,  in  my 
opinion,  we  are  most  particularly  incited  to  regulate  the  consti- 
tution, lest  the  disease  should  be  revived  or  renewed  by  its  dis- 
turbance." But  this  writer  has  informed  us,  "That  he  has 
known  a  patient  die  soon  after  an  operation  for  the  removal  of 
a  cancerous  tumor  of  no  great  magnitude,  merely  in  consequence 
of  the  shock  imparted  to  the  constitution  by  the  operation." 
Common  sense,  therefoi'c,  seems  to  dictate  that  the  constitution 
should,  if  possible,  be  improved  previous  to  any  operation,  and 
to  enable  the  patient  to  sustain  it. 

It  is  quite  evident,  that  if  the  diseased  part  be  removed,  we 
can  never  feel  perfectly  convinced  that  the  nature  of  the  disease 
has  not  been  mistaken.  .  As  it  is  properly  observed  by  Mr. 
Abernethy,  it  is  more  from  the  history  and  progress  of  the  com- 
plaint that  its  nature  becomes  evident,  than  from  any  thing  that 
is  obvious  to  the  senses.  Had  this  lady  submitted  to  an  ope- 
ration several  years  ago,  which  I  have  no  doubt  would  have 
been  proposed  by  the  surgeons,  it  is  impossible  that  there  could 
have  been  that  sort  of  proof  of  the  nature  and  progress  of  the 
disease  which  it  has  now  afforded  us. 

*  A  few  small  ulcerations  formed  upon  one  part,  at  the  expiration  of 
eleven  months,  but  they  soon  healed,  and  continued  well  to  the  end.— 
See  the  "  Reports  oji  Cancer/'  p.  102- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASE?.  213 

I  would  ask  c«  this  subject  one  very  plain  question.  If  a 
medicine  were  proposed  as  a  cure  for  a  cancerc.is  Aimor,  would 
any  one  think,  as  a  previous  step  to  a  trial  of  its  powers,  of  first 
cutting  off  the  diseased  part  ?  would  not  the  proposal  of  such 
a  step  be  deemed  even  ridiculous  ?  why  then  should  not  the 
power  of  regimen,  which  Mr.  Abernethy  has  acknowledged  to 
be  more  likely  to  affect  sucli  a  disease  than  medicine,  be  treated 
v/ith  equal  faii-ness  ? 

I  have  only  to  add  that  the  beneficial  effects  of  this  regimen 
in  scirrhous  tumors  of  the  mammoe  have  been  distinctly  acknow- 
ledged by  a  surgeon  of  a  public  institution.  In  one  of  the  medi- 
cal journals,  of  the  year  1809,  Avas  a  communication  on  this 
subject,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 

"  In  scirrhous  tumors,  where  the  patient's  stamina  is  good, 
and  particularly  where  the  uterine  secretion  is  regular,  the  vege- 
table diet  and  distilled  water  have  proved  very  beneficial.  The 
good  effects  of  Dr.  Lambe's  treatment  depend  entirely  on  the 
natural  stamina  of  the  patient." 

I  entirely  coincide  with  this  writer  on  this  point.  He  has  signed 
himself  **A  Dispensary  Surgeon.''^  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the 
author  of  this  communication,  which  carries  with  it  strong  in- 
ternal marks  of  correct  observation,  should  have  thought  it 
proper  to  assume  the  mask  of  an  anonymous  signature,  by  which 
the  weight  which  Avould  have  been  attached  to  his  evidence  is 
considerably  diminished. 


CASE  XIV. 

Rheumatism. — A  Case. 


January  20,  1815. — I  relate  the  circumstances  of  the  folio w- 
mg  case  rather  to  show  the  changes  which  are  introduced  into 
the  habit,  by  the  regimen,  than  as  an  example  of  relief  from 
severe  disease. 

A  lady,  now  near  forty  years  old,  was  induced  to  adopt  this 
regimen  between  four  and  five  years  ago.  She  had  no  disease 
upon  her,  but  was  not  in  a  firm  state  of  health.  The  respira- 
tion was  weak ;  she  was  not  able  to  take  a  full  inspiration. 
The  habifc  was  relaxed  and  languid ;  the  pulse  feeble  and  slug- 
gish ;  she  was  always  chilly,  and  the  skin  was  cold  and  damp. 
The  feet  were  always  cold. 

I  mention  these  circumstances,  because  they  are  what  are 


214  VEGETABLE    DIET 

called  signs  of  a  languid  circulation,  and  are  thought  particu- 
larly to  require  stimulating  food  and  fermented  liquors  to  sup- 
port, as  they  say,  the  system.  Accordingly,  this  lady  herself 
was  under  the  influence  of  a  strong  prejudice,  that  an  opposite 
system  could  not  possibl}^  agree  with  her. 

And,  indeed,  for  several  months,  the  change  was  very  irk- 
some. She  felt  as  if  she  had  nothing  in  her  stomach,  and  had 
a  strong  craving  for  animal  food.  But  except  uneasy  sensa- 
tion, the  change  was  attended  with  no  bad  consequence,  nor 
serious  mischief  of  any  sort.  Gradually,  also,  the  uneasiness 
subsided,  and  ultimately  wore  off  entirely.  The  craving  appe- 
tite for  animal  food  was  also  wholly  subdued. 

And  the  same  amendment  of  th3  general  health  was  found 
to  take  place  in  this,  as  has  been  experienced  in  other  cases. 
And  it  was  found  here  that  under  the  vegetable  regimen  the 
habit  became,  instead  of  cold  and  chilly,  to  be  hot  and  fever- 
ish. This  cannot  certainly  be  supposed  to  be  the  direct  effect 
of  the  vegetable  diet,  but  must  have  arisen  from  the  state  of 
the  system  at  the  time  at  which  it  was  adopted.  The  respira- 
tion has  become  strengthened  ;  and  all  the  signs  of  languid  cir- 
culation, particularly  the  cold  feet,  and  the  coldness  and  damp- 
ness of  the  skin,  were  removed.  She  sleeps  much  more  soundly 
than  formerly ;  and  upon  the  whole,  the  general  health  is  bet- 
ter, and  the  habit  much  strengthened. 

She  is  much  less  susceptible  of  injury  frora  cold  than  for- 
merly. She  was  so  tender  that  she  dreaded  a  breath  of  cold 
air  blowing  upon  her.  Such  accidents  she  can  now  bear  with- 
out injury  or  apprehension. 

She  Wc>s  able  in  the  third  year  of  the  use  of  this  regimen  to 
suckle  an  infant  nearly  twelve  months.  This  is  the  fourth  ex- 
ample of  this  kind  which  has  occurred  to  myself.  Twice  it  has 
happened  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Newton,  and  once  in  a  patient 
of  mine  in  an  humble  walk  of  life.  I  have  heard,  too,  of  some 
other  instances  of  it. 

This  lady  had  no  fixed  disease  upon  her ;  but  she  had  fre- 
quent indispositions.  For  five  or  six  years  she  had  been 
troubled  with  severe  rheumatic  pains  of  the  face,  regularly 
attacking  her  in  the  months  of  March  and  April,  and  lasting 
six  weeks  or  two  months.  These  attacks  have  wholly  ceased. 
But  during  the  second  year,  she  Avas  troubled  with  an  inflam- 
mation of  the  eyelids,  from  which  there  was  an  abundant  thin 
and  acrid  defluxion,  which  continued  some  months.  This  dis- 
ease appeared  to  be  a  species  of  substitute  for  th3  rheumatic 
pain. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  215 


CASE  XV. 

Polypus  ot   the  Nose    with    Numbness  of   the  Limbs,  Giddiness,  and 
Oppression  of  the  Head. 

January  20,  1815. — I  have  obtained  the  particulars  of  the 
following  case  from  correspondence,  the  result  of  which  appears 
very  satisfactory. 

A  lady,  now  near  forty  years  of  age,  married,  and  a  mother, 
had  been  troubled  from  a  very  early  period  of  her  life  witli  8 
stoppage  of  the  left  nostril,  which  was  found,  when  she  was 
eleven  or  twelve  years  old,  to  proceed  from  a  polypus.  The 
nostril  of  that  side  was  habitually  enlarged.  There  was  an 
habitual  discharge  from  the  part,  which  had  occasionally  been 
violent ;  but  it  was  unattended  with  pain,  or  other  inconveni- 
ence, except  that  she  was  obliged  commonly  to  breathe  with 
the  mouth  open. 

This  lady  was  of  a  full  habit  of  body,  high  colored,  and  with  the 
strength  good,  being  able  to  walk  several  miles,  but  was  liable  to 
numbness  of  the  limbs,  the  legs  and  arms  frequently  becoming 
torpid,  or  what  is  usually  called  falling  asleep.  The  head  felt 
often  oppressed,  and  she  was  affected  with  dizziness,  and  sing- 
ing of  the  ears  when  she  stooped.  At  times  she  was  extremely 
irritable  and  nervous.  She  had  been  informed  that  such  dis- 
eases of  the  nose  occasionally  become  cancerous,  on  which 
account  she  was  very  willing  to  adopt  any  plan  that  should  be 
thought  right  to  avert  such  a  calamity. 

What  reason  there  was  for  such  an  apprehension  I  will  not 
venture  to  pronounce.  But  the  uncomfortable  feelings  which 
this  lady  described,  justified  an  attempt  to  remove  them,  and  I 
therefore  advised  her  to  adopt  the  regimen.  This  she  com- 
plied with  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  year  1812.  I  heard  of 
the  consequence  of  the  change  very  lately,  of  which  she  speaks 
in  terms  of  the  greatest  satisfaction.  Her  account  is  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  :  "  On  the  receipt  of  your  answer  to  my  letter,  I 
have  strictly  confined  myself  to  the  mode  of  diet  you  pre- 
scribed, and  I  have  taken  no  medicine  whatever.  I  can  now 
with  the  greatest  truth  assure  you,  that  in  every  way  my  health 
is  materially  improved ;  ijfiy  spirits  are  more  equal ;  the  confused 
feel  I  formerly  experienced  in  my  head  is  very  much  better ; 
the  distressing  drowsiness  which  frequently  overpowered  me 
is  quite  gone,  and  the  equally  disagreeable  numbness  and  tor- 
por in  my  hmbs  is  quite  gone  also.     I  used  likewise  frequently 


216  VEGETABLE    DIET 

to  have  the  nightmare,  which  I  do  not  recollect  to  have  felt 
for  two  years  past.  I  have  also  the  pleasure  to  tell  you  that 
my  nose  is  more  comfortable  than  formerly ;  for  though  I 
never  had  any  pain  in  it,  there  was  often  a  very  distressing 
sense  of  fullness  and  heat,  which  I  do  not  feel  now,  and  the 
discharge  is  less.  I  also  breathe  much  more  freely  through 
my  nose  than  I  used  to  do." 


CASE  XVI. 

Miscellaneous. 
FROM  A  CORRESPONDENT. 


Dear  Sir, 

I  am  happy  to  be  able,  in  compliance  with  your  request,  to 
state  some  of  the  particulars  relative  to  my  observations  and 
experiments  about  vegetable  diet :  they  are,  in  my  opinion,  very 
insignificant  and  useless ;  but  if  you  think  they  can  be  of  any 
service  to  you  for  your  ingenious  inquiry,  you  are  at  liberty  to 
use  them  in  any  way  you  think  best.  As  you  wish  me  to 
represent  my  own  case,  I  shall  begin  with  the  following  par- 
ticulars. 

I  first  adopted  the  vegetable  diet  about  the  year  1801,  when 
a  boy,  partly  from  a  disgust  I  felt  toward  animal  food — a  cir- 
cumstance I  cannot  exactly  account  for — and  partly  from  hear- 
ing people  talk  of  the  health  and  longevity  of  many  persons 
who  had  fed  entirely  on  vegetable  substances  ;  and  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  manners  of  the  oriental  herbivori.  I  also  read  some 
books  which  came  in  my  way  by  chance  about  the  cruelty 
practiced  toward  animals,  with  a  view  to  improve  the  flesh  con- 
sidered as  an  article  of  diet ;  and  I  heard  people  discussing 
these  subjects  at  dinner.*  All  these  causes  combined  to  in- 
spire my  infantine  fancy  with  such  a  disgust  to  the  flesh  of  ani- 
mals, that  for  upward  of  five  years  I  lived  totally  on  the  vege- 

*  I  have  recently  become  acquainted  with  many  persons  at  Cambridge 
and  elsewhere,  who,  at  some  early  period  of  their  life,  abstained  from 
animal  food  from  this  consideration  of  the  cruelty  necessary  to  catch  and 
destroy  it.  Most  of  these  persons  have  since'been  distinguished  for  their 
intellectual  and  benevolent  character.  I  ha'e  heard  thorn  say  that  they 
enjoyed  as  good  health  and  strength  during  the  time  they  fed  on  vege- 
tables as  at  any  other  in  their  lives,  and  '.  am  sorry  I  cannot  at  this 
moment  find  access  to  them  to  obtain  leave  to  give  their  names,  and  a 
more  particular  account  of  their  cases. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  217 

table  productions  of  the  earth,  except  perhaps  a  little  milk  and 
butter.  I  do  not  remember,  being  then  young,  and  thinking 
ver}'^  little  about  medical  subjects,  what  change  was  produced 
on  my  feelings  and  health.  I  believe  I  was  as  well  as  before ; 
and  the  increased  pleasure  which  I  began  to  take  in  literary 
and  scientific  employments  at  that  time,  inclines  me  to  suspect 
that  a  state  of  mind  more  friendly  to  mental  enjoyments  might 
possibly  have  been  induced  by  a  change  to  the  light  diet  on 
which  I  began  to  feed.  I  may  mention  in  this  place,  that  dur- 
ing this  period,  I  once  being  in  Surrey,  in  the  summer  time,  fed 
for  more  than  a  week  almost  entirely  on  the  fruits  of  the  gar- 
den, chiefly  raspberries,  strawberries,  and  currants  ;  I  am  suro 
I  was  never  better  nor  stronger  in  my  life. 

I  may  here  observe,  that  while  living  in  this  manner  I  lost 
the  dark  incrustation  on  the  teeth ;  a  disagreeable  appearance 
for  which  persons  have  commonly  recourse  to  the  dentist. 

I  left  off  the  vegetable  diet  more  from  a  notion  of  the  con- 
venience of  eating  as  other  people  did,  than  for  any  other  rea- 
son. I  continued  eating  a  mixed  diet  till  1811,  when  I  studied 
anatomy  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  where  it  was  the  fash' 
ion  among  many  of  the  students  to  eat  vegetable  diet.  Many 
had  adopted  it  for  ill  health,  and  told  me  of  the  benefit  they 
derived  from  it ;  while  others  made  the  experiment  in  compli- 
ance with  the  habits  of  their  friends.  Hypotheses  are  very 
contagious,  and  I  was  infected,  and  determined  to  make  the 
experiment  fairly  and  completely.  I  hved  for  more  than  six- 
teen months  on  a  strictly  vegetable  diet.  The  change  at  first 
produced  was  an  augmentation  of  nervous  sensibility,  which 
was  only  temporary,  and  after  a  short  time  my  health,  which 
was  always  good,  was  now  nearly  the  same  as  when  on  a  mixed 
diet.  I  think  I  can  say,  however,  that  I  was  more  disposed 
for  and  capable  of  laborious  mental  occupation  than  when 
feeding  on  mixed  diet. 

.  That  numerous  persons  have  enjoyed  good  health  on  vege- 
table diet  is  doubtless;  but  whether  this  diet  produces  the 
same  degree  of  muscular  strength  and  activity,  is  more  doubt- 
ful. In  my  own  case  it  certainly  did.  I  frequently  walked 
twenty  miles  in  a  morning,  and  took  other  hard  exercise  when 
on  that  diet,  and  I  seldom  felt  fatigue.  I  am  quite  satisfied 
with  the  experiment,  and  having  repeated  it  on  others  to  whom 
I  have  recommended  the  vegetable  diet,  that  people  in  general 
may,  after  a  time,  live  as  healthy  on  it  as  on  a  mixed  diet. 
"Whatever  change  may  be  produced  at  first,  a  very  similar  state 

of  health  appears  to  return  after  the  continuance  of  any  diet 
10  -..i^.-.^^-. 


218  VEGETABLE    DIET 

when  eaten  in  moderation ;  at  least  as  far  as  tempomry  appear- 
ances indicate.  How  far  a  mixed  diet  lays  secretly  the  founda- 
tion for  future  disorders,  or  may  abridge  the  term  of  life^  I  am 
unable  to  say.  I  leave  this  to  yourself  and  other  ingenious 
persons,  who  make  it  a  subject  of  their  study.  But  I  am  con- 
fident, in  general,  that  people  err  considerably  in  the  quantity 
of  food  they  take,  and  the  frequency  of  taking  it,  and  in  the 
manner  in  which  they  stimulate  thel-.  stomachs  by  spirituous 
and  fermented  liquors. 

One  circumstance  which  strongly  impressed  me  with  the 
small  quantity  of  food  which  was  necessary  to  sustain  us  in 
health,  and  which  shows  the  safety  and  efficacy  of  a  sudden 
adoption  of  vegetable  diet,  was  the  following.  Last  midsum- 
mer I  received  a  severe  wound  on  the  back  of  the  hand.  Ap- 
prehending inflammation  and  its  consequences,  I  left  off  all  diet 
except  a  few  potatoes  and  some  strawberries  for  many  days, 
and  vegetable  diet  for  many  weeks.  The  Avound  continued 
healthy,  and  the  perfect  use  of  my  hand  returned  in  less  tlian 
six  weeks,  without  any  considerable  inflammation  or  any  fever, 
during  the  progress  of  the  reparation  of  the  injury.  I  did  not 
perceive  any  other  inconvenience  (after  the  intense  pain  which, 
shortly  followed  the  accident  was  over,  which  was  only  cuta- 
neous and  lasted  a  few  hours)  than  that  of  being  obliged  to 
wear  ray  hand  in  a  sling  for  a  few  weeks.  I  was  perfectly 
strong  and  healthy,  though  my  diet  was  only  on  vegetables, 
and  diminished  to  one  fourth  of  the  ordinary  quantity ;  and  this 
adopted  after  a  copious  bleeding  from  the  wound.* 

To  return  to  our  subject;  I  recommended  A.  B., about  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  who  for  a  continual  state  of  diarrhoea  had 
been  kept  by  his  medical  attendants 'on  meat  alone,  to  alter  a 
plan  from  which  he  derived  no  benefit ;  he  began  at  first  by 
eating  biscuits  and  other  farinaceous  substances,  and  by  degrees 
habituated  his  stomach  to  vegetable  diet ;  he  grew  healthy,  lost 
the  diarrhoea,  and  after  being  restored  took  to  common  mixed 
diet  again ;  but  used  much  less  in  quantity,  and  remains  well. 
I  mention  this  case  out  of  numerous  others  in  which  vegetable 
diet  was  successfully  used,  because  it  was  a  case  in  which,  from 

*  It  is  evident  that  my  ingenious  correspondent  has  followed  the  com- 
lyon  opinion,  that  the  absence  of  inflammation  was  occasioned  by  the 
temporary  change  of  his  regimen.  I  have  ah'eady  given  my  opinion  ia 
the  preceding  pages  that  this  doctrine  is  erroneous ;  and  should  attribute 
the  slightness  of  the  suffering,  under  this  accident,  much  more  to  the 
soundness  of  constitution  produced  by  the  previous  long-continued  habits 
of  temperance  and  abstinence  than  to  the  living  on  vegetable  diet,  after 
the  accident  had  happened. — Note  of  the  Author. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  219 

the  irritable  state  of  the  patient's  stomach  and  bowels,  the  fruit 
and  vegetables  were  regarded  by  the  medici  who  attended  him 
as  particularly  dangerous. 

1  must  say,  in  conclusion  of  this  hasty  letter,  that  all  I  have 
observed  of  the  good  effect  of  vegetable  or  any  other  diet,  ap- 
pears to  me  referable  to  its  power,  arising  either  from  some 
idiosyncrasy,  or  some  peculiar  state  of  the  patient's  system,  of 
tranquilizing  stomachic  and  intestinal  irritation ;  by  this  means 
of  insuring  better  digestion,  and  producing  that  tranquillity  and 
healthy  action  of  the  chylopoietic  viscera,  which  is  necessary  to 
the  cure  of  every  disorder  whether  general  or  local,  which  is 
the  principal  condition  of  the  maintenance  of  health.  Of  the 
remote  effects  of  peculiar  diets  on  the  animal  system,  where 
digestion  upholds  temporary  health  for  a  while,  I  know  abso- 
lutely nothing.  I  must  therefore  confine  my  practice  of  medi- 
cine to  actual  experience  of  facts ;  and  be  contented  till,  by 
your  labors,  and  the  future  inquiries  of  chemical  physiologists, 
more  is  known  about  the  component  substances  of  the  animal 
fibre  ;  to  recommend  people  to  acquire  and  preserve,  by  mental 
tranquillity,  temperance,  and  exercise,  and  to  restore  by  simple 
medicines  in  diseases,  the  healthy  action  of  those  important 
organs,  which  nature  has  designed  to  repair  the  daily  waste, 
and  to  restore  the  accidental  injuries  of  our  mutable  fabric. 

It  may  be  well  to  observe,  in  the  course  of  this  inquiry,  that 
if  your  doctrine  and  experience  should  be  able  to  show  that 
people  may  live  healthily  in  all  climates  on  veg*etable  produc- 
tions, the  same  quantity  of  land  would  sustain  more  human 
beings;  a  fact  of  which  agriculturists  have  assured  me  that 
people  would  be  more  free  from  disease,  and  from  inducements 
to  gluttony  and  intemperance,  and  that  the  removal  of  the  dis- 
gusting scenes  of  cruelty,  practiced  on  edible  animals,  would 
be  gratifying  to  those  who  are  organized  to  feel  benevolently, 
would  cease  to  operate  as  an  incitement  to  the  bad  feeling  of 
others,  and  would  tend  in  time  to  a  better  state  of  society. 

A  circumstance  may  be  mentioned  here,  of  great  moment  in 
the  education  of  youth,  namely,  that  the  principles  of  all  hu- 
man actions  are  in  the  organization,  though  education  and  ex- 
ternal influences  are  necessary,  generally,  to  excite  their 
activity.  Examples  have  the  most  powerful  influence  in 
rousing  either  the  good  or  bad  feelings ;  and  precepts  are  of 
little  avail  in  comparison.  The  constant  habit  of  destroying 
animated  beings,  both  for  food  and  for  amusement,  is  therefore 
one  of  the  most  fertile  sources  of  the  ferocity  and  brutality  of  the 
human  character.     Hence  we  see  the  moral  benefit  oi  any  diet 


220  VEGETABLE    DIET 

which  -would  diminish,  in  any  considerable  degree,  this  baneful 
example.  Children,  says  an  eminent  author,  begin  with  killing 
flies,  and  end  their  lives  at  the  p;allows  for  the  crime  of  murder ! 

Yours,  etc., 

Medicus. 
London,  Jan.  21,  1815. 


CASE  XVII. 

Hypochondriasis,  Headache,  Indigestion,  Costiveness,  and  Jaundice. 

from  a  correspondent. 
Dear  Sib, 

The  incalculable  benefit  which  I  have,  for  these  last  two 
years,  experienced,  and  am  daily  experiencing  from  the  vege- 
table regimen,  with  distilled  water,  would  have  been,  independ- 
ent of  any  other  consideration,  a  reason  sufficient  for  comply- 
ing with  your  wish,  to  have  the  principal  facts  of  my  case. 
There  are  yet  other  considerations  which  have  much  weight 
with  me  ;  you  have  made  me  greatly,  and  I  would  not  hope 
ungratefully,  your  debtor  for  all  which  I  now  enjoy  of  health, 
of  tranquillity,  and  of  serenity  of  mind.  Besides,  it  is  but  just, 
that  you  shoulji  be  put  in  possession  of  every  instance  where- 
in evident  and  acknowledged  good  has  resulted  from  the  dif- 
fusion of  your  opinions,  since  it  is  only  by  the  multiplication 
of  facts  that  the  truth  of  your  position  can  be  made  to  "  come 
home  to  men's  business  and  bosoms." 

Should  you  judge  the  detail  of  my  case  worthy  of  publica- 
tion, perhaps  it  may  not  be  misplaced  to  observe,  that  I  made 
trial  of  the  vegetable  regimen  when  you  were  unknown  to  me, 
even  by  name ;  and  therefore  I  was  not  influenced  by  any  pre- 
viously formed  opinion  of  what  food  is  most  natural  to  man. 
Imperfect  as  was  my  trial  of  the  regimen  at  first,  much  benefit 
was  derived  from  it;  many  unpleasant  and  intolerable  sensa- 
tions were  alleviated ;  still  something  was  felt  to  be  wanting  to 
its  completion,  when  it  was  my  happiness  to  become  acquainted 
with  you,  who  instructed  me  in  the  necessity  of  abandoning 
every  thing  animalized,  and  of  adopting  a  strict  vegetable  regi- 
men, with  distilled  water ;  since  which  time  my  health  has 
sensibly  increased,  and  is  daily  increasing;  felicity  of  mind, 
which  had  been  despaired  of,  has  been  obtained ;  and  ulti- 
mately there  will  be  assured  **  quiete  et  pure  et  eleganter  actae 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  221 

aetatis   placida   ac   lenis   senectus."      Having   premised   thus 
much,  I  will  state  my  case. 

At  a  very  early  period  of  life,  and,  indeed,  during  the  whole 
of  my  education  at  school,  my  health  was  uncertain  and  pre- 
carious. What  particular  aliment  I  labored  under  cannot  at 
this  distance  of  time  be  remembered ;  perhaps,  however,  an 
opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  nature  of  my  complaints,  when 
it  is  known,  that  between  my  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  years, 
I  was  very  severely  attacked  with  jaundice ;  and  that  previ- 
ously, for  many  years,  distressing  headaches,  and  symptoms 
of  indigestion,  with  habitual  costiveness,  had  been  experienced. 
Various  were  the  means  had  recourse  to,  besides  the  aid  of 
medicine,  to  alleviate  my  sufferings,  to  re-establish  my  health, 
and  to  correct  a  constitution,  denominated  bilious;  all  was  of 
no  avail,  and  I  dragged  on  a  miserable  existence  until  the  age 
of  fifteen,  when  I  was  removed  from  school,  and  was  for  a 
series  of  years  laboriously  and  actively  employed.  This  situa- 
tion in  life  did  certainly  improve  my  health ;  and  no  doubt  but 
much  more  would  have  been  done  by  my  active  employment, 
toward  the  re-establishment  of  my  health,  had  I  not  suffered 
myself  to  be  influenced  by  the  general  opinion,  that  labor  and 
activity  can  only  be  gone  through  when  animal  substances  and 
fermented  liquors  are  used  ;  hence  I  was  neither  sparing  of  the 
former,  partaking  of  it  thrice  in  the  day  ;  nor  very  temperate, 
though  not  intemperate,  in  the  latter.  After  the  expiration  of 
that  series  of  years,  my  views  and  intentions  in  life  having  been 
changed,  and  otherwise  directed,  my  labor  and  activity  were 
succeeded  by  sedentariness,  and  studiousness  ;  here  again  I  was 
inconsiderately  persuaded  by  persons  equally  inconsiderate  and 
unreflecting  with  myself,  who,  however,  as  medical  men  ought 
to  have  been  better  instructed,  that  the  labor  of  the  mind 
cannot  be  endured  and  supported,  but  by  having  recourse  to 
solids  and  liquids  of  a  stimulating  quality.  The  ill  effects  of 
such  mode  of  living,  the  seeds  of  which  most  certainly  had  been 
sown,  and  deeply,  between  my  fourteenth  and  twenty-first 
years,  now  became  manifest.  In  a  very  short  time,  I  was 
wholly  incapable  of  continuing  my  mental  labor ;  was  har- 
assed by  giddiness,  and  confusion  of  the  head ;  my  stomach 
was  much  more  disordered,  and  my  bowels  were  very  much 
more  irregular ;  my  mind  became  depressed,  and  disturbed  by 
all  the  melancholy  forebodings  of  a  thorough  hypochondriac, 
experiencing 

"  mortis  formidiiiem  et  iram, 
Somnia,  terroses  magicos,  miracula,  sagas, 
Nocturnoa  Lemures  oortentaque  Thessala." 


222  VEGETABLE    DIET 

To  enumerate  the  means  devised,  and  made  trial  of  to  relieve 
me,  would  be  to  repeat  what  is  usually  enjoined  in  similar 
cases ;  suffice  it  to  say,  such  was  my  condition,  now  better, 
now  worse,  for  many  years,  from  1802  to  1810,  in  which  last 
year  my  health  was  very  much  worse  than  it  had  been  in 
any  former  year.  Being  at  Edinburgh,  as  a  student  of  medi- 
cine, and  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Gregory,  I  requested  his  advice, 
which  was  of  no  avail.  Fortunately,  however,  I  had  become 
acquainted  with  a  student  of  medicine  who  had  been  similarly 
affected  with  myself.  Mentioning  to  him  my  case,  he  wished 
me  to  make  trial  of  a  vegetable  regimen,  with  milk.  I  did, 
and  during  the  six  months  my  stay  at  Edinburgh  was  pro- 
tracted my  health  was  much  amended.  Yet  no  solid  nor  sub- 
stantial benefit  was  derived  from  the  vegetable  regimen  until 
I  had  been  introduced  to  you,  in  January,  1812,  and  had 
perused  your  publications  ;  when  the  milk  was  abandoned,  and 
distilled  water  substituted  in  its  place.  The  change  from  that 
year  has  been  great :  all  that  had  rendered  existence  irksome 
has  been  removed  ;  my  mind  is  tranquilized  and  calmed  ;  my 
health  has  increased,  and  no  doubt  will  continue  to  increase, 
never  again,  I  trust,  to  be  greatly  diminished.  Perhaps  a 
short  narrative  of  what  I  am  now  equal  to  in  mind  and  body, 
contrasted  with  Avhat  I  was  not  equal  to,  when  living  upon 
flesh,  and  fermented  liquors,  will  be  convincing.  In  1812  my 
mind  and  body  were  capable  of  enduring  more  exertion  than  in 
1811  ;  in  this  year,  1813  and  especially  in  the  past  summer, 
a  great  accession  of  mental  vigor,  and  of  bodily  strength  and 
activity,  has  been  gained,  more  than  in  1812  ;  but  an  improve- 
ment had  also  been  experienced  in  1812,  greater  than  in  1811  ; 
the  inference  is  plain  and  obvious — 

"  Mobilitate  vigeo  viresque  acquiro  eundo." 

Through  the  past  summer,  I  have  not  unfrequently  risen  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  study,  and  I  have  generally 
gone  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock ;  my  sleep  has  been  sound  and  re- 
freshing, and  free  from  horrid  dreams.  Not  so  when  my  food 
was  flesh,  and  my  drink  fermented  liquors ;  then  the  hours  of 
sleep  did  not  refresh  me  in  mind,  nor  recruit  me  in  body ;  but 
now  it  is 

"  Airy,  light,  from  pure  digestion  bred, 
Aud  temperate  vapors  bland." 

Through  the  past  summer,  I  have  been  equal  to  more  walk- 
ing exercise,  been  much  less  fatigued,  and  required  less  suste- 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  223 

nance ;  fruit,  with  bread  and  biscuit,  in  moderate  quantity  being 
sufficient.  Indeed  I  have  observed  that  the  hghter  the  food, 
and  the  more  moderate  in  quantity,  the  more  walking  exercise 
I  am  equal  to  ;  moreover,  my  respiration  is  more  equable,  each 
inspiration  is  longer,  and  the  number  within  a  given  time  fewer, 
consequently  the  ability  to  continue  exercise  is  increased.  Very 
different  was  it,  when  I  lived  not  as  at  present ;  then  there  was 
wanted  not  only  the  inclination  to  exercise,  but  an  ability  to 
continue  it ;  upon  level  ground  my  respiration  was  frequent, 
hurried,  laborious,  now  I  can  ascend  a  long  and  steep  hill, 
walking  very  little  slower  than  upon  level  ground  ;  and  when 
I  have  surmounted  the  hill,  my  respiration  has  been  in  no  de- 
gree either  hurried  or  panting.  With  respect  to  my  bowels, 
they  are  now  regular,  requiring  no  medicine  to  excite  them  to 
action  ;  on  the  contrary,  when  I  lived  otherwise  than  at  present, 
they  were  torpid,  and  needed  much  stimulating ;  in  short,  my 
habit  of  body  was  considered  constitutionally  costive  ;  an  opi- 
nion most  decidedly  erroneous ;  it  having  been  my  erroneous 
and  unnatural  mode  of  living  which  contributed  thereto.  I 
should  here  close  my  statement  in  the  usual  and  generally  un- 
meaning language  of  persons  who  wish  not  to  appear  ungrate- 
ful, but  I  restrain  myself;  to  you,  dear  sir,  "  conscientia  bene 
actae  vitse,  multorumque  benefactorum  recordatio,  jucundis- 
sima  est."  I  am, 

Yours  sincerely, 

Justinian  Minooh, 

Walworth,  6th  Oct.,  1813- 


GASES  XVIII,  XIX.,  XX.,  AND  XXL 

Miscellaneous. 
FROM  A  CORRESPONDENT. 

I  HAVE  great  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  give  the  memoirs  of 
a  third  family,  who  (I  hope  I  may  say  it  without  the  imputa- 
tion of  vanity)  have  had  the  spirit  and  good  sense  to  imitate 
the  example  given  by  Mr.  Newton  and  myself.  This  I  shall 
do  in  the  words  of  the  head  of  the  family,  a  gentleman  resi- 
dent in  a  distant  county,  conveyed  to  me  in  the  following 
letter : 


224  VEGETABLE    DIET 

Dee.  12,  1814. 
Dear  Sir, 

I  AM  happy  to  .earn  from  your  friendly  letter  that  your  book, 
for  which  I  have  long  been  anxiously  looking,  is  in  progress  for 
publication.  I  wish  to  see  you  before  the  public,  and  to  learn 
if  your  opponents  will  venture  fairly  to  encounter  you  by  argu- 
ment, and  give  the  subject  that  full  discussion  which  medical 
opinions  of  infinitely  minor  importance  are  daily  receiving. 
From  such  a  discussion,  I  can  only  anticipate  a  triumph  of 
your  doctrines  equally  honorable  to  you  and  beneficial  to 
society. 

My  own  experience  on  the  subject  has  been  perfectly  satis- 
factory. When  I  first  adopted  your  regimen  in  my  family,  I 
began  it  without  any  undue  prejudice  in  its  favor.  My  own 
health  had  always  been  good,  so  that  I  had  no  personal  alarm 
or  suffering  to  drive  me  from  common  habits ;  and  having  had 
no  illness  and  deaths  among  my  children,  I  could  not  be  quite 
unmoved  by  the  predictions  of  permanent  weakness  or  danger- 
ous or  fatal  maladies  with  which  I  was  on  all  sides  threatened, 
as  the  inevitable  eflects  of  this  mode  of  living.  After  persisting 
near  four  years  in  the  use  of  a  strict  vegetable  diet  and  distilled 
water,  I  am  happy  to  give  my  decided  testimony  in  favor  of 
your  system.  Its  effects  have  been  a  gradual  and  important 
strengthening  of  the  constitution,  without  any  inconvenience  or 
disagreeable  symptom.  I  found  the  change  easy  and  pleasant, 
and  have  never  had  the  least  wish  to  resume  the  use  of  animal 
food.  I  have  always  used  much  exercise  ;  I  have  found  my 
power  of  bearing  fatigue  increase ;  and  I  have  never  during  the 
whole  time  felt  even  the  slightest  indisposition. 

With  respect  to  my  children,  A -,  aged  twelve,  has  al- 
ways been  a  stout  boy,  but  was  formerly  liable  to  violent  inflam- 
matory attacks  on  his  chest  and  windpipe,  which  only  yielded 
to  the  powerful  applications  of  bleeding,  blisters,  James'  Pow- 
der, and  digitalis.  He  had  always  been  hardily  brought  up, 
and  lived  less  fully  than  most  children  with  whom  I  am  ac- 
quainted. These  attacks  were  extremely  sudden,  and  were 
preceded  by  an  unusual  appearance  of  health.  Since  we  have 
adopted  your  regimen,  he  has  never  had  a  day's  illness,  and  is 
in  size,  miiscular  strength,  and  power  of  supporting  fatigue 
equal  to  any  boy  of  his  age  I  have  ^et  with. 

B ,  aged  ten.     The  history  af  his  health  resembles  that 

of  his  brother ;  his  life  has  been  repeatedly  endangered  by  the 
same  inflammations  of  the  trachea  and  lungs,  which  have  been 
repelled  by  the  same  remedies.     The  change  of  diet  has  had 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  225 

the  like  favorable  effects  upon  him ;  and  he  has  enjoyed  the 
same  freedom  from  sickness  or  indisposition.  These  boj^s,  in 
color  and  fullness  of  habit,  have  every  appearance  of  perfect 
and  robust  health  ;  they  are  thinly  clad,  much  abroad,  and  ex- 
posed, without  precaution  or  injury,  to  all  changes  of  the  wea- 
ther. They  find  their  mode  of  diet  easy  and  pleasant,  and  have 
no  wish  for  animal  food. 

C ,  five  years  old,  was  a  very  delicate  child  from  the 

birth,  and  suffered  much  from  want  of  action  of  the  bowels ; 
this  defect  has  been  completely  removed,  and  though  still  less 
robust  than  the  two  former,  the  general  health  is  quite  good. 
This  child  has  been  twice  indisposed  for  a  short  time  with  cold 
and  sore  throat,  the  last  time  about  six  months  ago ;  did  not 
change  the  diet  till  some  time  after  the  experiment  had  been 
tried  on  the  stronger  part  of  the  family,  and  though  so  young 
and  so  delicate,  was  the  only  one  of  the  party  who  reta.ned 
for  any  length  of  time  an  inclination  for  animal  food.  We 
should  not  of  course  like  to  appear  by  name  before  the  public, 
but  for  any  other  use  you  choose  to  make  of  them,  my  observa- 
tions on  this  or  any  future  occasion  are  quite  at  your  service. 


CASE  XXII. 

General  Debility,  Mental  Weakness,  Sleeplessness,  and  Headache. 
FROM  A  CORRESPONDENT. 

Sandon,  near  Royston,  Dec.  28,  1814. 
Dear  Sir, 

About  two  years  ago  I  was  so  very  sickly  that  I  had  but  little 
enjoyment  in  life.  My  great  complaint  was  general  debihty, 
which  daily  increased  upon  me,  took  away  all  desire  and  abil- 
ity for  exertion,  and  rendered  my  mind  incapable  of  attending 
to  any  subject  for  any  length  of  time.  Occasionally  I  was  un- 
der a  considerable  stimulus  and  animation,  which  were  followed 
by  coldness  and  languor.  It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  make  those 
persons  comprehend  me  who  have  never  felt  this  distressing 
debility  of  the  human  frame,  which  so  materially  affects  the 
spirits,  and  deprives  the  mind  of  all  its  energies.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  man  is  completely  a  material  being,  and  that  all 
permanent  courage  and  strength  of  motive  spontaneously  re- 
sult from  the  strength  and  purity  of  the  physical  system.  Sleep 
10* 


S26  VEGETAILE    DIET 

did  not  seem  to  benefit  me ;  my  appetite  was  craving,  and  sel- 
dom satisfied,  and  once  a  week  I  was  subject  to  a  distressing 
sick  headache.  My  fluids  were  evidently  in  an  impure  state, 
consequently  the  solid  parts  were  not  nourished ;  for  impurity 
cannot  impart  strength,  and  hence  that  general  debility  of  which 
I  complained.  Having  read  Mr.  Newton's  work,  and  your 
publications,  I  resolved  to  adopt  the  use  of  vegetables  with 
distilled  water,  and  now,  after  th?  experience  of  nearly  two 
years,  I  can  say  Avith  the  strictest  truth  and  certainty,  that  my 
health  has  been  gradually  improving  up  to  the  present  time. 
My  strength  is  greater  than  it  ever  was  before  ;  my  painful 
sensations  have  left  me,  and  my  headache  seldom  attacks  me, 
and  never  Avith  its  former  violence.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
I  am  perfectly  well ;  such  an  idea  would  be  absurd,  and  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  the  human  constitution  ;  but  I  am  certainly 
better  in  health  now  than  I  remember  ever  to  have  been  in  any 
former  period  of  my  life.  The  comparison  is  not  to  be  made 
between  me  and  any  other  person,  but  between  what  /  am  now 
and  what  /  was  before  I  adopted  this  regimen. 

Vegetables  are  certainly  the  natural  support  of  man :  they 
recommend  themselves  by  their  freshness  and  purity ;  and  by 
their  natural  sweetness  and  agreeableness  to  the  palate.  They 
require  so  little  trouble  to  prepare  them,  and  are  always  a  nice, 
clean,  and  delicate  food ;  w-liile  dead  animal  substances  are  very 
offensive  to  the  senses,  and  it  becomes  a  very  dirty  and  disa- 
greeable task  to  cook  and  prepare  them  for  the  appetite. 
The  slauq-hter  of  animals  is  also  a  ferocious  and  diso-ustinor 
act,  which  greatly  opposes  the  growth  of  benevolent  disposi- 
tions. Comparative  anatomy  has  clearly  proved  that  man  is, 
in  his  construction,  an  herbivorous  animal,  which  ought  to  have 
great  weight  with  every  rational  mind.  The  world,  sir,  will 
thank  you,  in  some  future  time,  for  your  labors  in  one  of  the 
most  benevolent  investigations  that  can  interest  oui*  under- 
standings. Yours,  sincerely,  G.  G.  Fordham, 

Mr.  Fordham  received,  in  the  course  of  )ns  attempts  to  im- 
prove his  health,  convincing  proof  of  the  necessity  of  uniting 
the  use  of  the  pure  water  to  the  vegetable  regimen.  He  at 
first  left  off  animal  food  only,  using  the  same  water  to  which 
he  had  been  accustomed.  But  he  found  the  change  irksome, 
complained  much  of  his  feeble  and  fastidious  stomach,  and  did 
not  appear  to  receive  due  strength  and  nourishment  from  his 
food.  To  some  inquiries  which  I  made  on  this  subject,  Mr. 
Fordham  sent  me  the  following  answer  : 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  227 

^  **  You  are  perfectly  correct  in  the  idea  that  the  vegetable 
diet  was  irksome  and  uneasy  to  my  stomach  hefore  I  had 
united  with  it  the  use  of  distilled  water.  I  thought  at  first, 
that  the  benefit  of  distilled  water  must  be  a  mere  fancy,  and  I 
even  ridiculed  it  as  trifling  and  absurd  ;  but  I  am  now,  by  ex- 
perience, thoroughly  persuaded  that  it  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance. I  felt  an  immediate  benefit,  my  stomach  was  easy 
and  light,  and  I  did  not  experien",e  the  slightest  sense  of 
weakness,  but  a  gradual  increase  of  strength.  I  am  convinced 
that  the  use  of  distilled  water  greatly  assists  the  stomach  in 
the  digestion  of  vegetable  substances." 

Mr.  Fordham,  I  must  add,  is  a  young  man,  under  thirty 
years  of  age. 


CASE  XXIII. 

Disposition  to  Pulmqnary  Consumption. 

Feb.  20,  1815. — Having  received  the  appointment  of  physi- 
cian to  the  General  Dispensary,  Aldersgate-street,  in  the  year 
1810,  it  has  given  me  the  opportunity  of  making  more  numer- 
ous trials  of  what  can  be  done  by  regimen  than  I  before  pos- 
sessed. It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  description  of  per- 
sons, who  apply  to  these  institutions,  is  not  such  as  can,  in 
general,  be  wholly  depended  upon,  either  for  regularity  of 
conduct,  or  for  veracity.  But,  I  believe,  that  in  the  examples 
I  shall  select,  due  attention  was  paid  to  the  regulations  en- 
joined. 

J.  U.,  aged  about  twenty-seven,  applied  to  the  dispensary, 
about  Christmas,  1810,  for  a  severe,  dry,  rending  cough.  I 
thought  the  man,  from  his  habit  and  appearance,  was  becom- 
ing consumptive.  He  was  thin,  and  rather  emaciated.  He 
had  been  troubled  with  the  cough  only  during  the  Avinter,  but 
he  said,  that  for  three  or  four  years  he  had  found  his  breath 
fail.  He  could  not  take  exercise  so  well  as  formerly,  nor  go 
up  stairs.  I  advised  him,  therefore,  in  conjunction  with  the 
medicines  suited  to  his  case,  to  adopt  the  regimen,  with  which 
he  declared  himself  perfectly  willing  to  comply. 

He  soon  lost  his  cough ;  which,  however,  I  do  not  attribute 
to  this  change.  He  informed  me,  moreover,  that  he  found 
immediate  relief  from  it ,   He  found  his  respiration  strengthened. 


228  VEGETABLE    DIET 

and,  in  no  long  time,  he  became  as  equal  to  exercise  as  in  ih\ 
former  part  of  his  life. 

I  saw  this  man  occasionally  for  three  /ears,  during  whicl 
time  he  continued  in  improved  health ;  but  he  remained  thin 
and  meagre  ;  and  he  had  some  returns  of  cough,  but  of  no 
great  violence,  the  two  following  winters.  I  remained,  there- 
fore, of  the  opinion  I  first  adopted,  that  he  had  been  really  on 
the  verge  of  consumption.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  prove 
this  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  others.  In  internal  dis- 
eases, we  must  content  ourselves  with  probable  conjectures. 
After  this  time  he  changed  his  residence,  and  I  have  lost 
sight  of  him. 

This  man  kept  a  ham  and  beef  shop ;  and  he  cooked  \m 
meat  by  steam.  He  found  it  easy,  then,  to  prepare  his  dis- 
tilled water  by  a  part  of  the  apparatus  which  he  employed  in 
his  business.  I  was  satisfied,  on  this  account,  that  he  really, 
in  this  respect,  followed  the  directions  given  him. 


CASE  XXIV. 

Chronic  Pains  of  the  Bowels,  Bloody  Discharges,  and  Constipation. 

J.  K.,  aged  eleven,  had,  in  the  beginning  of  the  summer  ot 
1810,  the  scarlatina.  On  recovering,  it  was  observed  that  the 
abdomen  w^as  too  hard  ;  he  complained  of  pains  of  the  bowels, 
and  had  often  bloody  stools.  He  took  a  good  deal  of  medi- 
cine without  benefit,  and  continuing  ill,  became  my  patient  at 
the  General  Dispensary,  in  February,  1811. 

He  complained  of  severe  pains  of  the  bowels,  apparently 
like  colic,  attacking  him  two  or  three  times  in  the  course  of 
the  day.  The  abdomen  was  so  hard,  that  it  would  not  yield 
to  the  pressure  of  the  band,  and  strangely  protuberant,  irre- 
gular, and  deformed.  He  was  in  a  decaying  state  of  health  ; 
but  the  pulse  was  regular  and  natural.  The  bowels  were 
irregular,  but  commonly  bound. 

As  I  thought  there  was  little  probability  of  this  boy  being 
curer"  by  medicines  alone,  I  proposed  to  his  mother  to  join  the 
regimen  to  the  use  of  such  remedies  as  he  appeared  to  require ; 
to  which  she  gave  her  consent.  He  began  about  the  middle 
of  February,  1811. 

The  pains  of  the  abdomen  continued  to  recur  with  just  the 


4*^*1* 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  229 

same  violence  for  about  half  a  year.  Hardly  a  day  passed 
without  his  being  obliged  to  go  to  bed  in  consequence  of  them. 
About  August,  they  remitted  for  three  or  four  weeks,  but  they 
then  recurred  with  great  severity.  Toward  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember they  became  much  less  severe,  and  he  was  able  to  go 
to  school,  and  to  follow  the  common  occupations  of  his  years. 

For  the  remainder  of  the  year,  he  continued  in  improved 
health.  The  pains  of  the  belly  were  either  gone  or  very  tri- 
fling ;  the  bowels  were  nearly  regular. 

But  though  this,  as  a  constitutional  disease,  was  nearly  cured, 
as  a  local  disease  it  continued  with  very  little  change.  The 
abdomen  was  not  quite  so  hard,  but  it  still  continued  tumid, 
and  with  much  irregular  deformity  of  shape. 

After  he  had  been  a  patient  of  the  dispensary  a  twelve- 
month, he  ceased  to  attend,  and  I  have  since  lost  sight  of  him. 


CASE   XXV. 

Leucorrhoea,  Fluor  Alboa,  or  the  Whites. 

Another  patient  of  the  General  Dispensary  afforded  me  strong 
evidence  how  much  the  sense  of  weakness,  which  is  so  much 
complained  of  under  the  vegetable  regimen,  is  produced  by  the 
VLF.e  of  common  water.  This  patient,  E.  F.,  aged  sixty,  was 
afflicted  with  leiccorrhcea  ;  but  I  do  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
relate  the  particulars  of  her  case.  I  was  induced  to  recommend 
her  to  use  the  regimen,  from  some  circumstances  in  her  general 
health ;  and  she  used  it  four  or  five  months  with  evident 
advantage.  Some  short  time  afterward  she  came  to  me,  at 
my  own  house,  complaining  much  of  weakness.  Upon  inquiry, 
I  found  that  she  had  quitted  London  for  about  a  month,  to 
keep  a  house  at  Hornsey  ;  that  there  she  had  continued  the 
vegetable  regimen,  but  had  not  used  the  distilled  water,  think- 
ing it  unnecessary  in  the  country.  I  explained  to  her  what  I 
thought  the  cause  of  her  weakness ;  and  she  found  what  I  said 
to  be  correct.  Upon  returning  to  the  use  of  the  distilled  water, 
the  sense  of  weakness  vanished. 

This  woman  was  at  a  time  of  life  at  which  people  are  very 
apprehensive  of  permanent  injury,  from  relinquishing  animal 
food.  But  she  certainly  experienced  much  benefit,  as  was  evi- 
dent from  her  improved  health,  and  even  from  her  improved 
looks.     She  became  stronger,  and  rather  gained  flesh. 


'i»^^_ 


830  VEGETABLE  DIET. 

CASE  XXVI. 

Feebleness  of  Strength. 

Though  it  is  indisputable  that  animal  food  most  commonly  ex- 
cites and  increases  the  muscular  power,  yet  even  this  does  not 
appear  to  be  universally  true.*  There  are  habits  in  which 
obviously,  while  it  impairs  the  sensibility,  it  hkewise  diminishes 
the  muscular  strength.  A  lady  somewhat  more  than  thirty 
years  old  gave  a  striking  proof  of  this  fact.  She  had  been  an 
invalid  some  years,  complaining  principally  of  weakness,  unable 
on  this  account  to  take  proper  exercise,  and  pallid.  There  is, 
perhaps,  at  the  bottom  of  these  ailments,  some  uterine  com- 
plaint ;  but  the  symptoms  are  not  very  definite.  During  the 
year  1812,  she  adhered  to  the  regimen  of  distilled  water  and 
vegetable  diet.  In  consequence  she  became  less  pallid;  the 
countenance  expanded  and  became  more  animated,  and  she 
gained  strength.  These  changes  must  have  been  occasioned 
by  the  relinquishment  of  animal  food ;  for  she  had  previously 
been  in  the  habit  of  using  the  distilled  water,  with  little  influ- 
ence on  her  health. 

Notwithstanding  such  evident  advantage,  I  was  not  a  little 
surprised  to  find  that,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  this  lady  thought 
proper  to  abandon  the  system  and  return  to  the  use  of  animal 
food.  The  immediate  motive  to  this  I  could  not  exactly  learn ; 
but  suspect  that  the  wish  to  avoid  singularity  had  a  predomi- 
nant influence  on  her  resolution. 


CASE  XXVII. 

Hypochondriasis,  Nervous  Weakness,  and  Constipation. 

Feb.  20,  1815. — Mr.  P e,  aged  now  thirty-one,  a  respect- 
able tradesman,  consulted  me  at  the  end  of  the  year  1811,  under 
great  agitation  of  mind.  He  had  been  ill  between  three  and 
four  years ;  had  frequent  uneasiness  and  oppression  of  the  head, 
for  which  he  had  been  repeatedly  cupped.  From  this  he  had 
received  benefit,  but  it  was  only  temporary;  but,  besides,  he 

♦  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Dr.  Lambe  had  not  at  the  lime  he  wrote 
duly  considered  this  subject.  For  a  great  variety  of  facts  in  proof  that 
animal  food  is  not  most  conducive  to  physical  power,  I  refer  the  reader 
to  Graham's  Science  of  Human  Life. — S. 


,^.^. 


IN  CHRONIC  DISEASES.  231 

obviously  labored  under  the  highest  degree  of  nervous  irritation. 
He  labored  under  great  depression  of  spirits ;  constant  anxiety 
of  mind ;  he  could  not  talk  of  his  complaints  with  any  calm- 
ness ;  and  was  constantly  uneasy  and  walking  about.  Going  to 
a  fire  oppressed  his  breath  so  as  not  to  be  bearable.  Tlie  bowels 
were  habitually  bound. 

He  informed  me  that  till  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  had 
lived  principally  on  vegetable  and  farinaceous  food ;  that  about 
this  time  he  began  to  live  much  upon  a  fuller  diet  of  animal 
food,  eating  it  twice  a  day,  and  at  the  same  time  became  more 
sedentary ;  that  in  consequence  he  grew  fatter,  but  his  health 
became  worse,  and  he  gradually  fell  into  the  condition  I  have 
described.  He  had  heard  of  some  good  having  been  done  by 
the  regimen  in  a  case  which  he  thought  similar  to  his  own,  and 
on  that  account  was  anxious  to  try  it. 

I  encouraged  him  to  so,  ordering  him  at  the  same  time  a  few 
laxative  medicines,  which  I  thought  he  required.  He  began  at 
that  time,  and,  as  he  informs  me,  has  adhered  to  it  ever  since. 
I  advised  him  also  to  use  much  exercise  on  foot. 

For  a  few  months  the  symptoms  of  this  disease  continued  in 
full  force,  but  then  all  his  sufferings  became  alleviated ;  and 
during  the  second  year  he  was  quite  a  diflferent  man.  He  re- 
gained his  spirits,  could  attend  regularly  to  his  business,  and 
his  complaints,  though  not  wholly  gone,  were  comparatively 
quite  trifling.  He  had  lost  flesh  very  much,  a  loss  he  found 
no  occasion  to  regret. 

He  seems  at  present  in  perfect  health,  subject  only  to  such 
trifling  ailments  as  happen  to  every  body.  Latterly  he  has 
gained  flesh. 

I  do  not  know  that  this  disease  was  tending  to  death,  or 
attended  with  any  immediate  danger.  But  the  mental  suff"er- 
ings  which  the  patient  underwent,  were,  in  my  opinion,  more 
severe  and  harassing  than  the  symptoms  of  many  fatal  diseases. 


CASE  XXVHI. 

Difficult  Urination,  Falling  of  the  Womb,  and  Constipation. 

February  20,  1815. — M.  J.,  aged  twenty-five,  applied  to  the 
dispensary  in  October,  1812.  The  uterus  was  prolapsed;  she 
complained  of  great  irritation  in  making  w'ater,  and  besides, 
had  obstinate  constipation  of  the  bowels,  Avith  tumefaction  and 


■f* 


232  VEGETABLE    DIET 

soreness  of  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen.  Under  these  com- 
plaints she  had  suffered  about  three  years,  and  to  so  great  a 
degree  that  she  was  hardly  able  to  walk  about,  or  do  the  work 
of  her  house. 

She  had  been  at  another  dispensary,  and  had  a  good  deal  of 
medical  advice,  without  gaining  any  effectual  relief;  and,  there- 
fore, though  the  general  state  of  the  health  did  not  seem  very 
bad,  I  thought  medicines  alone  would  prove  ineffectual.  I 
therefore  proposed  the  regimen  to  her,  in  addition  to  some 
demulcents,  laxatives,  and  the  regular  use  of  glysters,  to  unload 
the  lower  part  of  the  intestines.  She  declared  herself  willing 
to  do  any  thing  at  all  likely  to  relieve  her ;  and  she  began  it 
on  the  8th  of  November,  1812. 

From  this  plan  she  found  a  speedy  alleviation  of  her  suffer- 
ings. In  two  or  three  months  the  soreness  and  tumefaction  of 
the  bowels  Avere  removed,  and  gradually  cathartic  pills  alone  did 
their  proper  office  of  unloading  the  bowels,  without  the  aid  of 
injections.  The  most  obstinate  symptom  was  the  pain  and  irri- 
tation in  making  water.  But  one  day  in  October,  1813,  she 
voided  a  calculus  about  the  size  of  a  small  bean ;  and  then  this 
irritation  ceased,  and  all  her  complaints  were  effectually  re- 
lieved. 

She,  like  the  subject  of  Case  XIV.,  appeared  to  become 
more  hot  and  feverish  from  relinquishing  animal  food.  The 
head  became  oppressed,  witli  a  sense  of  fullness  and  pain.  These 
effects  (for  they  cannot  be  thought  the  direct  and  natural 
effects  of  vegetable  diet)  seem  to  me  to  be  analogous  to  the 
well-known  fact  of  the  pulse  rising  sometimes  by  bleeding.  A 
degree  of  fever  that  was,  as  it  were,  latent  and  suppressed, 
becomes  evident  by  the  relinquishment  of  animal  food.  These 
symptoms  gradually  subsided. 

It  is  said  that  patients  laboring  under  diabetes  become  more 
thirsty  and  feverish  by  the  use  of  vegetables.  This  may  be 
true,  and  I  should  account  for  it  upon  the  same  principles ;  but 
it  does  not,  in  my  apprehension,  form  any  solid  objection  against 
their  use  even  in  this  disease. 

This  woman  had  at  the  Christmas  following  a  very  severe 
attack  of  inflammatory  fever.  The  bowels  were  tender  and 
inflamed  ;  and  the  head  was  affected  even  to  the  extent  of  delir- 
ium. But  in  about  a  fortnight  it  subsided,  and  she  was  restored 
to  good  health.  When  I  last  saw  her,  three  or  four  months 
ago,  she  continued  her  regimen,  and  was  in  very  good  health. 

The  calculus  was  certainly  only  a  portion  of  this  woman's 
sufferings.     1  mav  observe  that  it  has  been  proved  very  disr. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  233 

tinctly  that  vegetable  diet  alone  will  not  prevent  the  formation 
of  calculus.  A  writer,  whom  I  have  cited  more  than  once 
(Lobb,  on  Stone  and  Gout),  has  given  a  case  where  a  person 
became  first  afflicted  with  calculus,  who  had  used  a  vegetable 
diet  eight  years. 


CASE  XXIX. 

Cancer  of  the   Uterus. 


10th  March,  1815.— On  the  16th  of  January,  1813,  a 
woman  became  my  patient  at  the  General  Dispensary,  who, 
from  her  good  sense  and  decency  of  manners,  gave  me  a  pros- 
pect of  being  able  to  effect  what  I  had  long  had  at  heart :  to 
treat  a  case  of  carcinoma,  in  an  early  stage,  as  I  judge  such  a 
case  ought  to  be  treated,  under  the  inspection  of  upright  and 
enlightened  professional  men — terms,  which  it  needs  no  testi- 
mony of  mine  to  show  to  be  applicable  to  the  gentlemen,  my 
colleagues,  at  that  institution. 

A.  R.,  in  the  forty-third  year  of  her  age,  had  been  afflicted 
for  eight  months  with  very  severe  pains,  referred  principally 
to  the  region  of  the  uterus.  The  pain,  she  said,  was  darting 
and  shooting ;  and  though  seated  principally  in  the  uterus,  it 
was  sometimes  m  front,  at  other  times  posterior,  about  the 
rectum.  For,  about  the  same  time,  she  had  had  a  discharge 
of  a  thin,  foetid,  and  apparently  acrimonious  ichor,  sometimes 
tinged  with  blood..  This  discharge  inflamed  the  skin  of  the 
thighs,  with  which  it  came  in  contact. 

I  took  an  early  opportunity  of  making  an  examination  of  the 
parts.  I  found  the  os  tincse  low  down  in  the  vagina  ;  it  was 
not  much  changed  in  form  ;  perhaps  it  was  a  little  fuller  than 
natural.  But  it  was  very  tender ;  a  little  handling  gave  un- 
easiness ;  and  the  pain,  as  she  told  me,  from  this  cause,  lasted 
almost  the  whole  succeeding  day. 

I  could  not  doubt  that  these  were  symptoms  of  cancer,  an 
opinion  in  which  I  was  confirmed  by  the  habit  and  appear- 
ance of  the  subject.  She  described  herself  as  having  been 
long  in  a  feeble,  delicate  state  of  health.  The  appetite  had 
been  very  bad  even  for  years,  but  had  been  latterly  much 
worse.  She  had  lost  many  teeth;  and  the  gums  were  very 
lax  and.  spongy.  The  countenance  was  pallid ;  the  strength 
was  somewhat  impaired ;  the  breathing  bad,  particularly  upon 


834  .  .VEGETABLE    D.  ET 

exertion,  or  going  up  stairs.  Toward  night  the  legs  swelled. 
The  pulse  was  one  hundred. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  this  woman  appeared  before  the  con- 
sultation of  the  medical  officers  of  the  dispensary.  I  believe 
that  none  of  these  gentlemen  had  any  doubts  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  case.  She  has,  during  the  course  of  the 
treatment,  repeatedly  been  examined  by  them.  The  reports, 
which  were  drawn  up  at  each  examination,  I  shall  subjoin  to 
ray  own  account  of  the  case. 

With  regard  to  the  medicines  that  she  has  used,  I  may  say 
here,  once  for  all,  that  it  has  been  necessaiy  to  employ  opiates 
pretty  freely,  from  the  beginning  of  her  treatment  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  both  to  relieve  the  pain  and  procure  sleep  ;  this  last 
has  been  effected  very  imperfectly.  Saturnine  lotions  have 
been  useful  to  prevent  the  inflammation,  and  excoriation  of  the 
discharge.  Aperients  (principally  sulphate  of  magnesia)  were 
also  at  first  necessary,  but  in  a  few  months  ceased  to  be  requi- 
site. She  has  taken  also  a  feAv  other  medicines,  occasionally, 
but  as  they  had  no  marked  influence  on  her  complaints,  I  need 
not  trouble  the  reader  with  an  account  of  them. 

She  consented  to  give  the  regimen  a  fair  trial,  and  entered 
upon  it  on  the  10th  of  February,  1813. 

I  also  advised  her  particu^.arly  to  use  as  much  fruit  as  pos- 
sible. As  the  strength  was  radically  impaired,  I  recommended 
her  to  be  sparing  of  exercise,  but  ratli^r  to  use  considerably  a 
horizontal  posture. 

For  more  than  half  a  year  very  little  ground  was  gained. 
The  muscular  strength  diminished,  and  the  pains  continued  to 
be  very  severe.  But  the  pulse  was  reduced  in  frequency  :  it 
became  habitually  ?ibout  eighty  in  the  minute ;  the  discharge 
became  less  offensive,  and,  apparently,  less  acrimonious. 

In  August,  1813,  she  had  a  considerable  respite  from  pain, 
which  continued  for  three  weeks.  But  it  then  recurred  with 
great  severity  ;  but  still,  though  the  paroxysms  were  as  fre- 
quent as  during  the  former  part  of  the  year,  she  found  that 
the  severity  of  them  was  upon  the  whole  sensibly  diminished. 
The  respiration  became  rather  stronger.  With  the  pains,  the 
discharge  (which  had  been  checked)  returned ;  it  was  green 
and  fcetid. 

In  the  middle  of  December,  the  discharge  nearly  ceased, 
and  the  pain  likewise.  What  she  now  principally  complained 
of  was  an  almost  total  want  of  sleep,  and  of  appetite,  with 
great  lowness  of  spirits. 

During  the  ensuing  half  year,  the  symptoms  of  cancer  were 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  235 

more  completely  got  under.  In  the  middle  of  April,  1814, 
the  relief  was  vciy  great.  In  June  the  pain  was  quite  gone, 
and  the  discharge  was  very  trifling.  In  August  she  was  dis- 
charged, principally  at  her  own  request,  with  all  the  symptoms 
of  carcinoma  subdued.  The  genei'al  state  of  the  health,  too, 
•was  considerably  improved.. 

But  in  the  October  following,  she  again  became  a  patient. 
The  pain  had  returned  with  severity,  having  been  brought  on, 
apparently,  by  the  approach  of  the  cold  weather.  It  was 
again  attended  with  some  trifling  discharge.  This  aggrava- 
tion of  the  disease  was,  however,  of  short  continuance.  In 
four  or  five  weeks  it  was  removed,  and  she  again  was  restored 
to  her  habitual  state  of  a  cessation  from  pain,  almost  complete, 
and  the  discharge  stopped,  except,  perhaps,  in  a  quantity  so 
small  as  to  be  hardly  perceptible,  and  as  to  be  no  incon- 
venience. 

The  present  state  of  this,  considered  as  a  local  disease,  is 
very  nearly  as  has  been  just  described.  Habitually  she  is 
without  pain  or  discharge.  But  she  has  occasional  attacks, 
which  last  a  few  days,  or  a  week.  They  are  severe  enough 
to  break  her  rest,  and  give  her  uneasiness  ;  but  not  enough  to 
cause  confinement,  or  to  prevent  her  doing  the  work  of  her 
house.  The  last  of  these  attacks  was  in  the  middle  of  Feb- 
ruary of  the  present  year. 

The  proper  symptoms  of  carcinoma,  then,  the  pain  and  the 
discharge  have  been  subdued  and  kept  under  by  this  treat- 
ment. The  account  to  be  given  of  the  general  state  of  the  con- 
stitution, though  not  so  satisfactory  as  the  efibct  upon  the 
local  disease,  has  been  still  sufficiently  encouraging. 

In  fact,  the  chief  complaints,  now  for  about  fourteen  months, 
have  been  much  less  regarding  the  original  symptom  of  the 
disease  than  the  general  state  of  the  health.  Want  of  appe- 
tite, the  sleep  disturbed  by  tumultuous  dreams,  and  some- 
times wholly  interrupted ;  want  of  breath,  lowness  of  spirits, 
general  debility,  aching,  and  lassitude,  have  been  the  principal 
subjects  of  complaint.  Upon  the  whole,  however,  the  health 
has  sensibly  impro  A  ;  so  that  she  is,  at  present,  considerably 
better  than  she  w    ,  a  twelvemonth  ago. 

The  pulse  coi.  nues  calm,  being  commonly  about  eighty  in 
the  minute.  T  ;  respiration  is  still  not  strong,  but  it  has 
mended.  The  ppetite  remains  bad.  The  sleep  is  disturbed, 
but  upon  the  wiiole  it  is  more  calm  than  formerly.  The  mus- 
cular strength  is  a  little  improved ;  the  spirits  are  better;  there 
is  more  cheerfulness  and  animation  in  the  countenance. 


2§&  VEGETABLE    DIET 

I  think  it  right  to  add  that,  except  from  the  use  of  opium, 
■what  she  has  found  the  greatest  benefit  and  comfort  from  has 
been  the  unrestricted  use  of  fruit  and  recent  vegetables,  as 
radishes,  etc.  When  she  has  been  able  to  use  an}^  other  sus- 
tenance, the  stomach  would  receive  willingly  something  of  this 
nature ;  and  at  night,  when  the  tongue  and  fauces  were  dry 
and  clammy,  chewing  some  fruit  was  found  to  be  the  most 
certain  and  pleasant  resource. 

When  we  consider  the  deplorable,  and  hitherto  desperate  na- 
ture of  this  disease,  that  when  affecting  the  internal  organs,  it 
must  be  deemed  a  more  advanced  stage  of  the  complaint  than 
a  state  of  scirrhus  in  an  external  gland,  this  account  will,  I 
hope,  be  deemed  as  satisfactory  as  can  be  reasonably  expected. 
The  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  the  facts  stated  are  the  very 
same  as  those  which  flowed  from  those  related  under  Case  XIII. 
of  this  work.  If  I  therefore  repeat  them,  I  trust  that  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject  will  be  deemed  a  sufficient  apology. 
It  follows  then  from  this  statement — 

1st.  That  this  disease  was  evidently  carcinoma.  Its  history, 
at  the  first  examination,  made  this  sufficiently  evident. 

2d.  That  the  disease  continues  to  be  carcinoma  at  this  time. 
The  same  symptoms  which  at  the  beginning  authorized  us  to 
give  it  this  designation,  still  recur,  but  with  a  much  inferior  de- 
gree of  severity.  The  effect  of  the  treatment  then  has  not 
been,  strictly  speaking,  to  cure  the  disease,  but  to  control  and 
mitigate  the  symptoms. 

3d.  But  by  the  regimen,  life  itself  has  been  preserved.  It 
will  not  be  disputed,  I  suppose,  that  even  a  twelvemonth  is  as 
much  as,  under  the  common  habits  of  life,  a  case  of  uterine  can- 
cer might  be  expected  to  hist.  Two  years  must  be,  indisputa- 
bly, beyond  all  probability.  But  five-and-twenty  months  have 
now  elapsed,  and  the  patient  is  not  only  alive,  but  in  a  state  of 
improv^ed  health. 

4th.  The  disease  has  made  no  local  progress.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  symptoms  have  been  all  soothed  and  tranquilized. 

5th.  The  ulcerative  process  has  been  wholly  superseded. 

6th.  I  may  add  that  the  f<icts  of  this  C'-e  may  b'cj  applied  to 
the  treatment  of  dropsy  as  well  as  to  that  c  the  cancer.  There 
was,  when  she  first  became  a  patient  of  t.  dispensary,  some 
anasarcous  swelling  of  the  legs,  as  I  have  loted.  This  con- 
tinued nearly  in  the  same  state  for  the  first  }  ar,  or  year  and  a 
half.  It  is  now  nearly,  if  not  entirely  gone.  The  flow  of 
urine  has  throughout  continued  veiy  copious. 

I  need  hardly  say  how  much  encouragement  the  result  of 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  23T 

this  case  gives  to  those  afflicted  with  external  cancerous  tumors 
to  adopt  this  mode  of  dieting.  For  here  was  every  sign  of  a 
radically  impaired  and  enfeebled  constitution ;  the  appetite 
greatly  injured,  the  breath  bad,  the  legs  swelling,  the  strength 
declining ;  in  fine,  all  the  great  and  important  functions  imper- 
fectly performed,  though  there  was  no  breach  of  substance, 
nor  any  apparent  great  local  disorganization.  How  absurd 
then  (by  the  way)  is  it  to  say  that  this  disease  is  in  its  origin 
local.  But  we  know  that  many  persons  with  true  cancerous 
tumors  enjoy,  even  for  years,  a  relatively  good  state  of  health  ; 
most  undoubtedly,  infinitely  better  than  the  subject  of  this  re- 
port. I  should  hope,  therefore,  that  gradually  they  may  be 
made  sensible  of  what  is  most  proper  to  enable  them  to  pass  the 
remaining  term  of  life  with  as  much  ease  and  comfort  as  their 
situation  renders  admissible. 

It  remains  only  to  add  to  this  account  the  reports  of  the  case 
taken  at  the  Consultation  Committee  at  the  dispensary. 


GENERAL  DISPENSARY. 

Present  at  the  Consultation  Committee,  7th  April,  1813,  Dr.  Clutterbuck, 
Dr.  Birkbeck,  Dr.  Lanibe,  Mr.  Vaux,  and  Mr.  Norris. 

Mrs.  A.  R.,  aged  forty-two,  has  complained  since  June  last  oi 
severe  shooting  pains  at  the  lower  part  of  the  abdomen,  with  y 
great  discharge  of  foetid  acrid  matter;  there  likewise  exists 
considerable  tenderness  of  the  hypogastric  region,  with  difficulty 
of  making  water.  For  upward  of  five  years,  the  catameni? 
have  not  occurred,  but  pain  and  hardness  of  the  breasts  have 
been  frequently  noticed.  The  bowels  are  regular,  but  the 
evacuations  are  attended  with  pain,  and  the  discharge  of  clots 
of  blood.  Within  the  vagina  no  swelling  can  be  perceived,  but 
the  uterus  has  descended.  She  has  employed  opium  with 
temporary  alleviation  of  the  symptoms,  and  other  medicines 
without  any  benefit. 

August  4th,  1812. — Present,  Dr.  Clutterbuck,  Dr.  Lambe,  and  Mr.  Vaux. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  asserts  that  the  pains  are  aggravated,  but  the 
discharge  is  less  in  quantity  and  less  foetid  at  present ;  such 
Yariations,  however,  she  states  are  not  unusual.     The  lower  ex- 


238  VEGETABLE    DIET 

tremities  are  become  anasarcous.  Her  rest  is  now  mucli  inter- 
rupted. The  pulse  is  generally  about  eighty  in  the  minute, 
with  frequent  intermissions  ;  a  circumstance  also  noticed  about 
two  months  since.  Sumat  Hydrosulph.  Ammonia  gtt.  vj.  ter 
in  die  sensim  dosim  augendo. 

February  2d,  1814. — Present,  Dr.  Clutterbuck,  Dr.  Birkbeck,  Dr.  Larabe 
Mr.  Vaux,  and  Mr.  Young. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  states  that  the  pains  are  much  easier,  though 
she  still  obtains  but  little  rest.  The  discharge,  which  is  less 
than  formerly,  is  yellow  and  without  blood.  The  hydrosul- 
phuret  was  soon  discontinued,  and  cort.  cinchonee  taken,  which 
is  directed  to  be  discontinued." 

August  3d,  1814. — Present,  Dr.  Clutterbuck,  Dr.  Birkbeck,  Dr.  Lambe, 
and  Mr.  Vaux. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  now  reports  herself  to  be  much  improved. 
There  is  not  any  discharge,  and  but  little  pain.  She  has  chiefly 
used  opium,  with  a  vegetable  diet  and  distilled  water. 

February  1st,  1815. — Present,  Dr.  Clutterbuck,  Dr.  Birkbeck,  Dr.  Lambe, 
Mr.  Vaux,*and  Mr.  Young. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  declares  that  she  has  persevered  in  the  use  of 
vegetable  diet  and  distilled  water  since  the  last  report,  with  no 
inconvenience,  excepting  the  sense  of  weakness,  and  consider- 
able craving  for  food.     She  is  in  all  respects  improved. 


REMARKS 

On  some  Cases  of  Disease  which  have  appeared  under  the  Regimen. 

It  is  not  possible,  in  my  opinion,  to  devise  any  other  proof  with 
regard  to  the  agents  which  have  t\e  greatest  influence  on 
health  than  that  which  has  been  given  in  the  preceding  pages 
I  have  taken,  as  it  has  been  seen,  examples  of  diseases  ac 
knowledged  to  be  incurable,  when  they  were  presented  in  such 
a  stage  as  to  aff'ord  any  rational  prospect  of  relief,  and  have 
given  the  results  of  experience.  To  these  are  added  observa- 
tions, accumulated  now  to  a  considerable  number,  in  other 
cases,  as  they  have  occurred  in  pi-actice.  These  may  not  all  of 
them  have  been  of  equal  weight  or  importance.     It  is  enough^ 


IN    CHRONIC   DISEASES.  239 

that  they  were  sufficiently  serious  to  excite  the  anxiety  and 
apprehension  of  those  who  were  the  subjects  of  them.  These 
observations,  thus  promiscuously  taken,  concur  uniformly  in 
corroborating  the  conclusions  drawn  from  the  diseases,  avow- 
edly incurable  by  medicine.  They  are,  therefore,  the  more 
valuable,  as  tending  to  fix  the  practice,  which  has  been  found 
the  most  beneficial  in  these  last. 

If  in  these  the  most  sanguine  hopes,  that  might  have  been 
formed  of  the  eflects  of  the  practice  proposed,  have  not  been 
fully  realized  ;  if  perfect  cures  have  not  been  effected,  nor  the 
body  restored  to  a  complete  state  of  health  and  integrity,  it 
will  be  allowed,  it  is  hoped,  that  what  has  been  effected  is 
neither  trifling  nor  despicable.  In  cancerous  diseases,  in  par- 
ticular, to  have  relieved  the  horrible  and  excruciating  torments 
of  the  disease ;  to  have  prevented  ulceration,  with  its  attendant 
miseries  of  loathsome,  foetid,  and  excoriating  discharges ;  to  have* 
preserved  life,  and  that  in  such  a  degree  of  comfort  as  to 
enable  the  patient  to  enjoy  society,  and  be  equal  to  the  com- 
mon duties  and  occupations  of  the  world ;  to  have  effected  so 
much  in  cases  where  neither  age,  nor  a  completely  broken 
constitution,  present  invincible  obstacles  to  all  amendment,  is 
surely  to  have  achieved  much  for  suffering  humanity ;  and 
amply  compensates  the  proposer  of  this  regimen  for  the  anxiety 
and  labor  in  which  he  has  been  involved,  in  consequence,  for 
more  than  ten  years ;  the  obloquy  of  the  ignorant  and  the  mis- 
representations of  the  malevolent;  and,  he  must  add,  the 
heavy  pecuniary  loss  which  he  has  been  obliged  to  sustain  in 
collecting  the  evidence  which  he  has  been  at  length  enabled, 
to  lay  before  the  public. 

Such,  then,  are  the  benefits  which  have  been  really  gained  ; 
and  the  evident  inferences  from  these  facts  will  remain  un- 
shaken whatever  may  be  the  future  progress  or  final  issue  of 
the  cases  which  have  been  treated. 

It  is  neither  pretended,  nor  expected,  that  a  morbid  body 
can,  by  any  art,  be  kept  free  from  the  attacks  of  disease. 
There  seems  to  be  in  the  body,  as  in  vegetation,  the  seeds  of 
future  diseases,  which  continue  latent  and  inactive  for  a  length 
of  time  ;  they  then  germinate,  increase,  pass  through  their 
regular  stages,  and  come  to  a  termination.  What  is  the  secret 
condition  of  the  frame,  which  gives  occasion  to  these  pheno- 
mena, we  are  entirely  ignorant.  It  is  placed  wholly  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  senses ;  and  appears  to  be  without  the  sphere 
of  physical  and  experimental  inquiry. 

It  is,  however,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  between  that  state  of 


240  VEGETABLE    DIET 

the  body,  in  which  there  is  merely  a  diseased  disposition,  and 
that  consequent  state,  in  which  disease  becomes  active,  there 
is  a  very  long,  though  not  a  strictly  definable  interval.  Thus 
the  breath  may  begin  to  fail  for  three  or  four  years  before 
a  person  falls  into  a  consumption.  A  change,  therefore, 
takes  place,  certainly  in  the  functions,  and  probably  in  the 
structure  of  the  organs  of  respiration,  long  before  the  acces- 
sion of  confirmed  cough  and  hectic  fever.  We  see  it  more 
evidently  in  the  cancer,  in  which  there  is  pain,  perhaps,  for 
a  series  of  years,  before  there  is  any  thickening  of  the  parts, 
as  happened  in  the  first  of  the  cases  of  cancer,  which  I  have 
related  in  this  work. 

!N^ow,  the  very  state  of  health  which  persons  have,  upon  the 
whole,  enjoyed  under  the  regimen  which  I  have  described, 
shows  that  much  of  diseased  action  can,  by  its  use,  be  super- 
seded. But  it  has  equally  appeared  that  this  has  only  hap- 
*pened  imperfectly.  Not  only  have  the  attacks  of  habitual  dis- 
eases been  continued  or  renewed,  but  some  examples  even  of 
new  diseases  have  taken  place,  of  which  there  had  been  no  in- 
dication in  the  former  part  of  life.  They  have  not  been  nu- 
merous, but  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  my  duty,  as  a  faith- 
ful relator  of  facts,  to  pass  them  over  in  silence.  I  have  thought 
it  proper,  therefore,  in  this  place,  to  set  down  such  of  these 
occurrences  as  I  have  thought  most  worthy  of  notice. 

Case  I. — I  shall  first  mention  a  local  disease  of  the  cheek, 
which  occurred  to  the  subject  of  the  first  of  the  foregoing  cases. 
He  had  been  subject  to  commfe»n  pimples  from  the  age  of  eighteen ; 
but  these,  under  the  regimen,  had  been  almost  entirely  sub- 
dued. But  in  the  year  1809,  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
year,  some  small  tumors  appeared  on  the  face.  They  have 
occupied  principally  the  left  cheek,  and  continued  for  several 
months,  red  and  sore,  but  without  any  discharge.  They  gra- 
dually rose  higher  upon  the  skin,  then  became  dry,  and  peeled 
off  in  the  form  of  a  scab,  leaving  the  parts  beneath  clear  and 
sound. 

When  some  of  these  tumors  had  gone  through  their  course, 
others  appeared,  and  had  the  same  progress  ;  and  as  they 
have  continued  fixing  on  different  spots,  even  till  this  present 
time  (February,  1815),  it  is  probable  that  almost  every  portion 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  cheek  has  been  successively  the  seat 
of  this  affection.  But  when  the  scab  has  fallen  oft',  the  skin 
underneath  has  been  left  sound,  without  pitting,  or  other  de- 
formity. 

I  believe  that  the  essence  of  this  disease  has  consisted  in  a 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  241 

circumstance,  to  which  I  have  alluded  more  than  once  in  the 
course  of  this  work,  as  often  occurring  in  the  human  body, 
namel}^  that  the  skin  of  this  cheek  was  unsound ;  that  portions 
have  perished,  been  thrown  off  by  the  action  of  the  vessels, 
and  have  been  regenerated.  Latterly,  though  the  disease  has 
not  absolutely  ceased,  it  has  very  nearly  so ;  it  is  at  present  so 
trifling  as  hardly  to  deserve  notice,  and  the  parts  are  more 
sound  and  healthy  both  in  feeling  and  appearance  than  when  it 
firsc  broke  out. 

Case  IL — In  another  of  the  persons  who  had  used  this  regi- 
men more  than  two  years,  there  took  place  a  discharge  from 
the  urethra,  very  copious,  like  a  gonorrhoea.  There  was  often 
united  with  it  a  considerable  irritability  of  tho  bladder ;  but, 
otherwise,  it  was  not  accompanied  with  pain  or  inflammation. 
This  discharge  continued  for  about  three  years,  and  then 
ceased. 

Case  III. — I  have  said  many  years  ago  that  one  of  the 
members  of  my  own  family,  then  a  boy  about  eight  years  of 
age,  was  of  a  deeply  scrofulous  habit  (See  my  Inquiry  into  the 
Origin,  etc.,  of  Constitutional  Diseases,  p.  61).  In  the  course 
of  this  investigation  I  have  received  a  strong  proof  of  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  observation,  and  of  the  difficulty  of  completely 
eradicating  such  a  disposition. 

At  the  end  of  December,  1811,  when  he  had  used  this  regi- 
men between  five  and  six  years,  after  having  been  skating  dur- 
ing the  day,  the  hand  were  observed  to  be  stiff"  and  a  little 
swelled.  On  the  day  following,  the  face  on  the  right  side 
swelled,  and  the  tumefaction  increased,  extending  from  the  eye 
to  the  clavicle.  The  seat  of  the  disease  appeared  to  be  about 
the  middle  of  the  lower  maxillary  bone.  The  bone  itself  be- 
came thickened  at  this  part,  and  roughened  upon  its  surface. 
Matter  came  from  the  part,  both  internally  into  the  mouth,  and 
externally  through  the  cheek.  This  happened  repeatedly,  for 
two  months,  when  the  ulcerations  finally  closed,  and  the  parts 
became  well.  But  for  a  couple  of  years  the  bone  continued 
thickened,  and  the  skin  adherent  to  the  parts  underneath. 
After  that,  the  adhesion  of  the  skin  was  gradually  loosened,  and 
the  parts  were  restored  to  their  natural  structure.  But  the 
bone  continues  thickened  for  near  an  inch  through  its  whole 
body. 

This  was,  in  fact,  a  very  trifling  disease.     But  it  appears  to 
have  been  the  germ  of  one  which  is  the  most  serious  and  dis- 
tressing of  any  which  affects  the  human  body — a  fixed  and 
radical  disease  of  the  substance  of  the  bone. 
11 


242  VEGETABLE    DIET 

Case  IV. — A  boy  of  about  ten  years  of  age  had  lived  on 
this  regimen  about  three  years.  He  had  enjoyed  good  health, 
was  very  stout,  but  was  not  without  occasional  slight  indispo- 
sitions, enough  to  make  him  lie  down  for  a  day  or  two,  but 
hardly  to  be  regularly  confined.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1811,  he  had  the  angina  parotidcBa,  or  mumps,  attended 
with  some  fever  of  a  low  or  typhus  kind,  and  this  hung  upon 
him  at  least  a  fortnight.  It  left  behind  it  a  tumor,  on  the 
right  side  of  the  neck,  which  remained  for  four  or  five  months. 
It  was  attended  with  some  shooting  pain,  by  no  means  severe ; 
but  was  perfectly  hard  and  incompressible,  as  large  almost  as 
an  egg,  and  gradually  rose  much  above  the  surface.  Toward 
the  beginning  of  summer,  the  apex  of  the  tumor  softened,  and 
it  ulcerated.  A  good  deal  of  purulent  matter  came  out,  the 
skin  gradually  retracted,  and  a  hard  and  conical  tumor  remained 
projecting  beyond  the  skin.  From  this  there  was,  of  course,  a 
continued  flow  of  matter ;  but  besides  this,  there  was  a  quantity 
of  a  gritty  substance  separated,  which  had  been  imbedded  in 
the  body  of  the  tumor.  This  separation  took  place  repeatedly, 
but  at  separate  intervals,  and  in  consequence  the  substance  of 
the  tumor  gradually  wasted,  and  was  finally  reduced  to  the 
level  of  the  skin.  Then  the  ulcer  dried  up  and  cicatrized.  This 
whole  process  took  up  about  a  twelvemonth. 

But  though  the  ulcer  cicatrized,  some  thickening  remained. 
In  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1813,  a  fresh  ulceration  took 
place,  and  a  small  quantity  more  of  the  same  matter  came  out. 
The  ulcer  this  year  continued  open  a  month. 

It  showed  some  disposition  to  break  out  again  the  following 
year,  1814.  There  was,  however,  no  breach  of  substance,  but 
for  a  single  day.     Since  that  he  has  remained  quite  well. 

This  boy  showed  strongly  in  his  countenance  the  ameliorat- 
ing effects  of  a  vegetable  regimen.  He  had  before  he  adopted 
it  great  fullness  about  the  head,  and  a  sternness,  not  to  say  a 
ferocity,  of  the  countenance.  After  a  certain  time,  the  fea- 
tures relaxed,  and  he  gained  much  more  the  aspect  of  good 
humor  and  benevolence.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  these 
changes  of  countenance  were  the  index  of  corresponding  changes 
of  the  moral  disposition.  The  regimen,  however,  had  been 
persevered  in  three  years  before  they  took  place  decidedly. 

Another  example  has  occurred  of  a  pretty  severe  affection 
of  the  chest,  in  a  lady  who  had  used  the  regimen  more  than 
four  years.  And  I  should  think  it  proper  to  notice  it  more 
particularly,  except  that  it  cannot  be  said  at  this  present  timo 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  243 

(March,  1815)  to  have  completely  subsided.  I  ihall  saj'-  only, 
therefore,  that  it  was  a  peripneumoKy,  designated  by  its  com- 
mon symptoms  of  pain  in  the  chest,  cough,  and  expectorations. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  examples  of  disease  under 
this  regimen  which  have  occurred  to  myself,  in  addition  to  those 
I  have  noticed  in  the  general  course  of  my  naiTation.  Others 
of  smaller  consequence,  as  slight  cough,  colds,  pains  of  the  face 
or  limbs  which  have  been  observed,  I  omit  as  not  deserving  of 
a  distinct  relation. 

It  is  very  obvious  to  the  most  superficial  consideration  that 
these  occurrences  have  not  been  the  consequences  of  the  regi- 
men, and  therefore  can  form  no  solid  objection  against  it.  They 
have  in  truth  been,  not  in  consequence,  but  in  spite  of  it. 
Some  of  them  were  clearly  natural  processes.  Thus  the  glandu- 
lar tumor,  which  has  been  last  described,  was  a  process  for 
bringing  the  concreted  matter,  which  was  finally  evacuated,  to 
the  surface  of  the  body.  It  may  then  be  suspected  that  the 
other  examples  were  natural  processes  likewise,  though  the 
fact  is  not  so  obvious.  At  all  events  they  were  not  diseases  of 
debility,  which  is  apprehended  from  vegetable  regimen ;  but 
were  inflammatory  diseases,  such  as  would  be  judged  to  require 
depletion  rather  than  stimulation.  They  form  then,  I  repeat, 
no  objection  to  the  regimen. 

It  will  follow,  evidently,  from  the  whole  course  of  my  narra- 
tion, that  for  the  most  part  the  use  of  this  regimen  affords  no 
hope  nor  prospect  of  great  relief  from  deep  constitutional  dis- 
ease in  a  very  short  time.  To  jump  from  a  state  of  disease  to 
a  state  of  health  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature.  Those  who 
hold  out  prospects  of  this  kind  can  have  no  other  object  than 
to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  mankind. 

Those  who  think  fit  to  undertake  it  should  be  well  aware  of 
its  aim  and  intent.  This  is  not  so  much  to  obtain  perfect  and 
unmterrupted  health  (objects,  perhaps,  hardly  consistent  with 
our  present  condition),  as  an  alleviation  of  sufl'ering,  and  to  pass 
through  the  years  that  are  allotted  to  us  with  the  least  possible 
evil.  These  are  objects  which  every  reasonable  person  will 
acknowledge  to  be  the  most  important  of  all  temporary  and 
sublunary  concerns. 

The  observation  of  a  regular  system  of  dieting,  such  as  I  have 
described,  fulfills  this  object  by  radically  strengthening  the  pow- 
ers of  life.  It  has  no  control,  or  at  least  a  very  imperfect  one, 
Over  the  immediate  symptoms  of  disease.  The  general  habits 
of  the  system  therefore  remain  in  a  great  degree  unaltered. 
But  slowly  and  gradually  the  constitution  becomes  changed,  at. 


244  VEGETABLE    DIET 

least  in  its  powers,  if  not  in  its  primordial  structure.  The  pow- 
ers inherent  in  the  system  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  body,  to 
overcome  the  operation  of  agencies  tending  to  destroy  the  body, 
or  to  derange  healthy  action,  and  to  restore  parts  which  are 
defective  either  in  their  organization  or  power,  are  strengthened 
and  invigorated. 

This  doctrine,  no  doubt,  will  never  be  acknowledged  by  those 
persons  who  are  under  the  influence  of  the  common  prejudice, 
that  vegetable  diet  has  a  natural  tendency  to  produce  weakness. 
The  facts  which  appear  to  favor  this  notion  are  so  strong,  and 
the  assertion  is  so  confidently  made  by  a  multitude  of  observers, 
who  have  had  neither  object  nor  interest  in  making  false  repre- 
sentations, that  I  despair  of  being  able  to  eradicate  it  from  the 
minds  of  hasty,  superficial,  and  prejudiced  inquirers.  But  those 
who  will  calmly  and  dispassionately  weigh  the  facts  which  I 
have  advanced,  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  acknowledge  that  I  have 
traced  the  sense  and  appearance  of  weakness  to  its  proper 
source,  the  agency  of  foreign  matter  upon  the  system ;  and 
that  the  accusations  brought  against  the  vegetable  regimen  are 
in  this  respect  groundless.  Remove  these  noxious  agencies,  and 
then  the  true  operation  of  the  vegetable  regimen,  in  radically 
strengthening  the  vital  powers,  becomes  obvious.  But  to  pro- 
duce a  very  great  change  in  the  habits  of  the  constitution  must 
be  the  work  of  time,  and  even  of  a  great  length  of  time.  This 
must  be  the  effect  of  the  patience,  not  of  weeks,  nor  of  months, 
but  of  years.  There  must,  too,  be  a  natural  limit  to  the  change 
which  it  is  possible  to  effect.  This  limit  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
fine, independent  of  experience ;  and  it  will,  of  course,  be  dif- 
ferent in  each  different  constitution. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  examples  which  I  have  given  of 
the  pertinacity  of  diseased  symptoms  are  extremely  discouraging, 
and  hold  out  a  melancholy  prospect  to  those  who  are  great 
sufferers.  I  suspect  that  the  great  sufferers  will  not  be  of  this 
opinion  ;  but  that,  for  the  most  part,  they  will  be  contented  to 
put  up  with  small  evils,  if  they  can  escape  the  great.  How- 
ever, with  all  men,  the  first  and  greatest  object  in  life  is  to  in- 
form the  reason.  Let  them,  then,  well  consider  how  slowly 
disease  itself  is  engendered ;  and,  therefore,  how  unreasonable 
it  is  to  suppose  that  it  can  be  quickly  eradicated. 

To  illustrate  this  point,  let  us  take  a  very  common  example. 
If  any  disease  is  acknowdedged  to  be  artificial,  it  is  the  gout. 
A  man  then  has  his  first  fit  of  gout,  we  will  say,  at  forty  ;  he 
has  repeated  regular  paroxysms,  it  may  be  for  twenty,  or  five- 
and-twenty  years ;  thei ,  perhaps,  the  seat  of  the  diseased  action 


[N    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  245 

becomes  changed ;  the  gout  begins  to  desert  the  limbs ;  the 
head  becomes  affected  with  apoplexy  or  palsy ;  the  lungs  with 
cough,  dyspncea,  or  pneumonia ;  the  stomach  with  spasms,  sick- 
ness, vomiting,  or  diarrhoea;  and,  after  suffering  a  few  years 
more,  he  at  length  dies. 

Now  here  we  see  that,  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  this 
person  enjoyed  health,  though  under  the  influence  of  powerful 
morbific  causes  ;  for  a  certain  number  of  years  more,  the  causes 
continuing  to  act,  a  new  train  of  johenomena  are  produced,  which 
we  call  gout ;  and,  finally,  the  powers  of  life  declining,  a  third 
series  of  morbid  actions  is  established,  seated  in  the  internal 
organs. 

We  must  acknowledge,  then,  the  body  to  be  under  a  constant 
force,  which  must  impress  and  modify  it  at  every  period  of  its 
existence  ;  but  that  the  phenomena  of  diseases  depend  not  wholly 
on  the  action  of  these  forces,  but  on  the  state  of  the  system  in 
conjunction  with  them.  The  system  itself  is  in  a  constant  state 
of  mutation ;  so  that  the  effects  of  agents  at  one  period  of  its 
existence  is  dissimilar  to  the  eflfect  of  the  very  same  agents  at  a 
former  or  succeeding  period. 

Now  as  these  agents  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  applied 
during  the  whole  of  life,  how  utterly  unreasonable  must  it  be  to 
expect  that  great  changes  can  be  produced  speedily  by  the 
laere  cessation  of  their  action.  Surely  we  ought  rather  to 
expect,  even  a  ■priori,  that  th«^  restoration  to  health  will  be  ana- 
logous to  the  formation  of  disease ;  that  the  cimendment  will  be 
by  degrees  almost  insensible  at  short  intervals  of  time  ;  and  that 
many  must  content  themselves  with  an  alleviation  of  suffering 
rather  than  a  perfect  restoration  to  health.  And  when  we  con- 
sider the  enormous  load  of  misery  under  which  some  of  our  un- 
fortunate fellow-creatures  are  oppressed,  who  labor  under  some 
of  the  forms  of  chronic  disease,  this  prospect  must  be  allowed 
tc  be  most  consolatory  to  suflfering  humanity. 

I  may  mention  here,  incidentally,  that  under  the  theory  which 
I  have  chalked  out,  the  diseases  which  prove  fatal  can  rarely 
be  considered  to  be  strictly  local.  I  know  that  almost  all  medi- 
cal theorists  espouse  an  opposite  opinion.  They  dissect  the 
dead  body ;  such  and  such,  say  they,  were  the  appearances 
after  death ;  here  then  was  the  seat  of  the  disease,  every  other 
part  of  the  body  was  sound  and  uninjured.  But  let  it  be  con- 
sidered that  a  part,  whose  organization  is  perfect  to-day,  to- 
morrow perhaps  mortifies.  The  powers  of  any  part  of  the  body 
then  may  be  lost,  though  the  structure  is  uninjured;  and,  there- 
fore, the  parts  of  the  body,  in  which  no  diseased  action  has 


246  VEGETABLE    DIET 

taken  place,  may  be  inherently  as  much  diseased  as  those  the 
texture  of  which  is  obviously  changed.  They  might  then  have 
taken  on  diseased  action,  if  it  had  not  been  suspended  either  by 
the  existing  disease,  or  prevented  by  the  death  and  dissolution 
of  the  body. 

These  considerations  show  that  dissection  can  never  com- 
pletely unravel  the  phenomena  of  disease.  By  dissection  we 
can  discover  only  the  final  changes  of  composition,  which  the 
body  undergoes.  But  disease  is  a  change  of  the  powers  and 
actions  of  the  living  parts ;  that  is  to  say,  of  parts  of  which, 
for  the  most  part,  the  organization  continues  perfect. 

If  then  disease  be  seated  in  and  pervade  the  whole  body,  it 
must  be  counteracted  by  measures  which  affect  and  pervade 
the  whole  body  likewise.  Now  the  whole  series  of  observations 
which  have  been  made  on  the  system  of  dieting  recommended 
in  the  preceding  pages,  evinces  that  it  affects  the  whole  frame, 
every  organ,  and  every  fibre  of  the  body. 

As  a  whole,  the  body  under  it  attains  its  just  stature,  due 
proportions,  and  proper  strength,  provided  there  be  no  original 
defect  of  structure.  In  consequence,  all  artificial  defects  of 
structure  are  tending  to  disappear  under  it.  The  skin  appears 
to  become  more  firm  and  dense.  The  hand  and  foot  in  par- 
ticular become  harder,  less  white  and  doughy,  but  perhaps 
more  fleshy.  The  pungent  heat  of  the  palms  of  the  hands 
and  soles  of  the  feet,  with  which  many  are  tormented,  dis- 
appears. The  whole  surface  of  the  body  commonly  becomes 
cooler;  but  the  temperature  of  the  body,  as  indicated  by  the 
thermometer  under  the  tongue,  is  the  same  as  under  common 
regimen. 

The  hair  grows  with  much  greater  luxuriance  and  rapidity. 
In  some  in  whom  it  was  dry  like  liay,  it  regained  a  due  soft- 
ness and  moisture.  In  others  the  disposition  of  the  hair  to  fall 
oft'  has  been  removed.  Premature  grayness  appears  to  be  pre- 
vented. 

All  the  secretions  are  promoted,  and  re-established  where 
they  had  been  checked.  Hence,  the  skin  becomes  moist  and 
perspirable ;  the  mucous  discharges  from  the  nostrils  and  the 
trachea  become  more  copious.  On  the  same  principle,  the 
bowels  become  regular  in  their  action.  The  urine  is  ex- 
tremely copious  and  commonly  clear.  The  saliva  loses  all  vis- 
cidity and  clamminess,  and  on  this  account  much  uncomfort- 
able feeling  in  the  mouth  and  fauces  are  removed.  The  teeth 
become  sound  and  clean,  the  gums  firm,  and  strongly  attached 
to  the  teeth  and  alveolar  processes.     The  tongue  likewise  grad- 


IN    CHRONiC    DISEASES.  247 

ually  becomes  divested  of  its  foul  covering,  and  becomes  moist 
and  clean. 

Though  the  regular  perspiration  be  re-established,  there  is 
much  less  profuse  sweating.  Several  of  the  young  persons 
who  have  lived  in  this  manner,  have  been  observed  playing  in 
the  open  air  in  the  heat  of  summer,  or  dancing  in  a  warm 
room,  unaffected  and  cool,  while  their  companions  were  bathed 
in  sweat. 

Not  only  are  the  secretions  more  copious,  but  they  are  ren- 
dered much  less  offensive.  The  eructations  from  the  stomach, 
and  flatus  from  the  bowels,  are  relatively  inoflfensivc ;  and  the 
faeces  themselves  become  less  disagreeable,*  of  their  proper 
color,  and  health)'-  consistency. 

Doubtless  the  whole  composition  of  the  circulating  fluids  is 
changed,  but  it  is  not  possible,  perhaps,  to  prove  this  chemi- 
cally. But  the  whole  body  acquires  a  cleaner  and  a  fresher 
appearance.  The  muddiness  of  the  complexion  vanishes.  The 
sclerotic  coat  of  the  eye  gives  the  strongest  evidence  of  this 
change.  From  having  been  yellow  and  dull,  it  regains  the 
pure  and  clear  whiteness  which  is  natural  to  it. 

The  body  becomes  more  tolerant  of  heat,  of  cold,  and  of  all 
the  mutations  of  the  atmosphere.  Such  impressions  lose  their 
power  of  injury ;  and  the  perpetual  attention  to  guard  our- 
selves against  them  becomes  needless.  In  consequence,  a 
lighter  system  of  clothing  may  be  adopted. 

All  the  senses  acquire  a  higher  degree  of  perfection :  the 
eye,  the  ear,  the  palate,  the  skin.  The  countenance  becomes 
more  animated  and  intellectual.  The  smile  which  plays  upon 
the  features  shows  the  inward  contentment  of  the  heart. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  apprehension,  the  memory, 
in  a  word,  all  the  faculties  which  constitute  the  intellect,  are 
improved. 

The  muscles  acquire  both  flexibility  and  power ;  the  move- 
ments of  the  body  are  performed,  therefore,  with  greater  ease 
and  freedora.f     With  the  power  of  motion,  the  love  of  exercise 

*  I  nave  observed  that  when  recent  vegetable  matter,  unchanged  by 
cookery,  has  been  abundantly  used,  the  faeces  have  acquired  very  much 
the  smell  of  horse  dung. 

t  I  here  suppose  that  there  has  been  no  great  disease  upon  any  of  tho 
vital  organs;  for  in  that  case  it  has  been  observed,  that  the  muscles  have 
sometimes  been  affected  with  a  sort  of  rheumatic  stiffness,  in  consequence, 
probably,  of  disease  being  transferred  to  these  parts.  Having  reniarked 
this  in  two  or  three  members  of  my  own  family,  I  must  suppose  that  it 
will  happen  very  oftea. 


248  VEGETABLE    DIET 

increases.  The  joints  become  better  knit,  and  the  body  tends 
constantly  to  preserve  its  upright  form. 

Heaviness  and  dro^ysiness  is  dissipated.  The  sleep  be- 
comes lighter,  sounder,  more  refreshing,  and  less  interrupted 
by  dreams.  Upon  the  whole,  the  body  seems  to  require  less 
sleep. 

The  appetite  for  food  becomes  sound,  strong,  and  healthy. 
There  is  no  oppression  or  flatulency  after  meals ;  no  fullness 
nor  heaviness ;  no  sense  of  satiety,  disgust,  or  nausea.  The 
pleasures  of  the  palate  are  heightened  by  the  increased  delicacy 
of  the  oi-gans ;  and  the  enjoyment  produced  by  the  free  and 
unrestricted  use  of  fruit  more  than  compensates  for  the  re- 
straints thought  to  be  imposed  by  the  abstinence  from  stimulat- 
ing viands.  The  nutrition  of  the  body  is  likewise  perfect. 
Man}'-,  undoubtedly,  lose  flesh  ;  but  this  is  not  because  vegetable 
diet  aff'ords  an  imperfect  nutrition,  but  either  from  disease,  or 
from  the  mere  change  of  habit.  Healthy  subjects  on  this  diet 
become  full  of  flesh,  and  even  fat. 

These  phenomena  mostly  indicate  an  increased  sensibility  of 
the  whole  frame.  Perhaps  there  is  no  single  nor  infallible  cri- 
terion of  augmented  vital  powers.  Probably,  however,  a  more 
full  and  fi'ce  respiration,  and  what  is  the  consequence  of  this,  an 
expanded  chest,  may  afford  the  strongest  indication  on  this 
point.  Of  this  expansion  of  the  chest,  under  this  regimen,  there 
have  been  several  examples.  To  this  is  joined  a  slower,  more 
full,  and  regular  pulse ;  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  and  arteries 
are  performed  with  diminished  velocity,  but  with  increased  full - 
ness  and  force.  But  in  saying  this,  I  speak  only  relatively  of 
each  individual.  For  in  the  absolute  number  of  the  pulsations 
of  the  arteries  there  is  the  same  variety  as  in  those  Avho  live  on 
a  mixed  diet.  In  some  the  pulse  is  quick,  in  others  slow,  accord- 
ing to  the  original  differences  of  the  constitution. 

This  description,  which  has  been  taken  from  observations  on 
many  subjects,  who  have  conformed  to  the  rules  laid  down  in 
this  treatise,  will,  of  course,  apply  to  different  subjects  with 
different  degrees  of  correctness.  There  may  be  obstacles  in 
the  state  of  the  constitution  which  may  oppose  every  attempt 
at  restoration.  The  inherent  powers  of  the  body  may  be  so  far 
impaired,  that  it  may  be  impossible  to  prevent  even  the  disso- 
lution of  the  fi-ame.  Age  is  the  circumstance  which,  of  all 
others,  forms  the  greatest  obstacle  to  all  attempts  »tt  relief ;  and 
this  is  so  powerful,  that  even  under  a  mild  disease,  or  no  dis- 
ease at  all,  I  should  be  unwilling  to  recommend  any  change  of 
habits  which  were  ungrateful  to  the  feelings.    But  at  no  period. 


IN    CHRONIC    DISEASES.  249 

not  even  in  the  first  stages  of  existence,  if  tlie  powers  of  life  are 
greatly  sunk,  is  it  possible  to  restore  them ;  the  principle  of 
conservation  may  be,  by  care,  cherished  and  prolonged  for  a 
short  time ;  but  it  will  then  sink  and  be  finally  extinguished. 

These  facts  prove  no  more  than  the  importance  of  prudence 
and  foresight  in  the  conduct  of  life.  I  cannot,  therefore,  too 
earnestly  impress  the  necessity  of  attempting  to  extinguish,  as 
far  as  it  is  possible,  the  germ  and  embryo  of  future  disease. 
To  distinguish  the  signs  of  distant  mischief  is  often  in  the  power 
more  of  the  enlightened  parent,  guardian,  or  friend  than  of  the 
regular  professional  adviser.  I  consign,  therefore,  these  my 
labors  to  the  reflections  of  the  discerning  and  benevolent  few. 
To  the  mass  of  mankind,  absorbed  in  selfish  pursuits,  or  strug- 
gling to  ward  off  poverty,  I  expect  them  to  remain  unknown, 
or  if  known,  to  be  ungrateful.  But  I  hope  they  will  meet  with 
a  better  fate  in  the  domestic  circle  of  retired  persons,  whose 
rule  of  life  is  to  practice  what  is  fundamentally  right ;  to  do  their 
duty  to  themselves,  to  their  relatives,  to  their  fellow-creatures, 
and  so  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  their  own  consciences,  and 
the  favor  of  the  great  Author  of  their  being.  If  among  these 
respectable  circles  it  disseminates  the  knowledge  of  great  prac- 
tical truths,  and  produce  the  proper  fruits  of  knowledge — more 
just  principles,  moi*e  rational  manners,  and  an  increase  of  solid 
comfort,  my  end  will  be  fully  answered. 


APPENDIX. 


VEGETABLE    DIET    IN    WHITESTOWN    SEMINARY, 
NEAR  UTICA,  NEW  YORK. 

Many  people  suppose  that  obtaining  an  education  is  necessarily 
attended  with  much  expense,  and  that  consequently  none  but 
the  richer  classes  can  be  benefited  by  it.  This  is,  however,  a 
mistake.  Almost  any  person  may,  by  adopting  a  plain  vege- 
table diet,  attend  school  as  long  as  desirable,  with  but  very  little 
pecuniary  means ;  and  in  so  doing  he  will  enjoy  better  health, 
and  accomplish  more  within  a  given  time  than  those  who  adopt 
an  opposite  course. 

At  Whitestown  Seminary,  near  Utiea,  N.  Y.,  a  considerable 
number  of  students  obtain  their  education  on  the  above  plan. 
I  spent  a  year  at  that  place,  commencing  with  the  winter  term 
in  the  month  of  December,  1847.  There  were  from  150  to 
200  students  there,  of  both  sexes,  and  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States. 

The  inmates  had  the  privilege  of  either  boarding  in  the  board- 
ing-house kept  in  one  of  the  buildings,  or  of  furnishing  their 
own  food  in  their  separate  rooms.  The  larger  number  chose 
the  latter  plan.  The  price  for  board  in  the  boarding-house  was 
$1  25  per  week  for  those  who  drank  tea  and  coffee,  and  $1  for 
those  who  took  only  water.  The  food  furnished  was  very  good, 
though  plain.  Flesh  meat  was  given,  I  believe,  once  a  day. 
The  number  who  drank  tea  and  coffee  was  very  small,  the  most 
either  caring  nothing  about  it,  or  wishing  to  save  the  twenty- 
five  cents  a  week. 

On  an  average  it  cost  those  Avho  boarded  themselves  about 
fifty  cents  per  week,  though  some  lived  for  considerable  less. 
They  would  use  bakers'  bread,  crackers,  apples,  and  the  like, 
and  roasted  potatoes,  and  such  cakes  and  other  articles  as  they 
could  cook  themselves  on  the  stove  top,  in  an  oven  attached  to 
the  pipe.  Tea  and  coffee  were  never  used,  I  believe,  and  meat 
very  seldom.  It  was  found  to  be  very  unpleasant  cooking,  and 
working  with  it,  and  disagreeable  to  have  it  in  the  rooms,  which 


252  APPENDIX. 

were  small;  and  others  from  experience  had  found  they  were 
better  without  animal  food. 

There  were  a  few,  however,  who  did  not  live  far  off,  that 
brought  tlieir  provisions  from  home — flesh  meat,  butter,  cakes, 
pies,  and  rich  food  generall}",  such  as  is  used  by  farmers  in  that 
fertile  country.  It  was  evident  that  among  these  there  was 
more  dullness,  more  illness  and  complaining,  than  among  all 
the  rest  put  together. 

Many  at  the  beginning  of  the  term,  for  the  saving  of  time 
and  trouble,  would  live  altogether  on  such  articles  as  they  could 
get  at  the  bakers  and  stores,  which  were  of  course  generally 
of  the  finer  kinds,  for  coarse  bread  and  crackers  could  not  be 
had.  But  before  a  long  time  they  would  grow  tired  of  these 
fine  thiiigs,  much  sooner  than  those  who  partook  of  the  plainer 
articles  of  their  own  cooking,  and  they  would  then  resort  to  the 
latter  plan. 

Fine  flour  was  found  much  more  difficult  to  make  into  eatable 
articles,  by  unexperienced  cooks,  than  the  coarser  kinds  of 
meal,  so  it  was  but  little  used,  and  the  students  never  felt  as 
well  after  eating  it.  Corn  meal  was  the  easiest  to  prepare,  and 
was  the  most  used ;  and  a  person  would  live  longer  on  it,  made 
into  different  kinds  of  cakes  and  puddings,  than  upon  any  other 
one  thing  without  becoming  tired  of  it ;  it  was  also  the  cheapest 
article  to  be  found  on  which  a  person  could  subsist. 

Butter,  molasses,  sugar,  and  other  sweets  were  generally  used 
to  a  moderate  extent,  but  they  were  sometimes  even  omitted. 
It  was  found  that  the  less  variety  they  had,  and  the  longer  they 
lived  on  a  few  plain,  simple  articles,  the  less  desire  there  was 
to  eat  too  much ;  and  nothing  could  be  eaten  with  a  greater 
relish  than  when  the  fewest  articles  were  taken  at  a  time. 

A  few  of  us,  for  the  sake  of  trying  an  experiment,  lived  foi 
several  weeks  on  simple  Indian  corn  cake,  of  our  own  bak- 
ing, witliout  butter  or  salt.  We  found  in  so  doing  that  there 
was  no  part  of  the  time  in  which  we  felt  as  well,  or  could  study 
more  than  during  this  experiment.  There  was  no  time  that  we 
ate  with  a  better  relish,  and  had  less  desire  for  rich  food.  It 
cost  about  eighteen  cents  a  week. 

Although  most  of  the  students  would  usually  study  a  great 
deal  by  candle-light — all  the  time  at  night  except  what  was 
absolutely  necessiiry  for  sleep — sore  and  weak  eyes  were  nearly 
or  altogether  unknown.  Weak  eyes  is  a  very  common  com- 
plaint in  some  schools,  where  the  students  live  in  a  different 
manner  in  regard  to  diet.  Although  the  chmate  was  severe, 
colds,  I  tl.'nk,  were  not  so  common  as  in  most  other  places. 


ArPENUix.  253 

The  cure  for  many,  when  they  got  a  cold,  was  to  lessen  the 
quantity  of  food  and  bathe  more  in  cold  water,  and  it  was  not 
long  that  a  cold  could  withstand  the  effects  of  abstemiousness 
and  water-treatment. 

In  the  winter  season  many  got  into  the  habit  of  taking  but 
very  little  exercise.  Some  perhaps  would  not  walk  half  a 
mile  a  day  on  an  average,  and  take  no  other  exercise,  and  yet 
all  appeared  to  go  on  well  enough,  certainly  much  better  than 
with  people  generally  who  take  so  little  exercise.  The  causa 
of  this  must  have  been,  I  think,  the  mode  of  hving  adopted. 

In  the  summer  season  most  of  the  students  worked  habit- 
ually three  or  four  hours  each  day  for  exercise.  Gardening 
and  other  farm  work  of  the  kind  could  always  be  obtained  at 
a  short  distance  from  the  seminary,  in  the  summer  season.  The 
pay  was  from  six  to  eight  cents  an  hour.  By  working  this  way 
during  the  odd  hours  and  holidays,  many  were  able  to  clear  all 
their  expenses,  attend  school  a  year  or  two,  and  then  leave 
with  as  much  money  as  they  brought  with  them.  They  felt  bet- 
ter, and  could  study  more,  than  those  who  did  not  work. 

In  the  summer  term  there  were  two  or  three  who,  from  an 
excess  of  vanity,  would  not  labor  with  their  hands  at  all.  And 
they  would  neither  board  themselves,  nor  board  in  the  boarding- 
bouse  where  good  plain  food  only  was  furnished,  but  went  to 
a  private  house  in  the  village.  There  they  paid  nearly  double 
price,  so  that  they  could  get  a  greater  variety  of  rich  food  and 
luxuries.  They  were  about  as  different  in  otiier  respects  from 
the  rest  as  in  their  manner  of  living.  When  the  seven  o'clock 
bel'  rung  for  breakfast  it  was  as  common  a  time  for  them  to  get 
up  as  any.  In  the  first  place,  then,  they  would  loose  three 
hours  of  the  best  part  of  the  day  for  both  exercise  and  study 
(for  the  students  generally  rose  at  four  in  the  summer)  ;  and 
then  go  right  to  their  breakfast,  they  would  be  far  from  feeling 
as  fresh  and  brisk  as  those  who  rose  early,  and  worked  and 
exercised  two  or  three  hours  before  the  morning  meal.  It  was 
a  general  remark,  and  a  true  one,  that  these  would-be-gentlemen 
studied  but  little,  and  learned  nothing.  One  of  them  came  to 
stay  two  or  three  years,  he  said,  but  soon  complained  of  head- 
ache, or  something  else,  all  the  time  he  was  there,  so  that  he 
could  not  study.  He  left  in  a  short  time.  Those  who  worked 
a  part  of  the  day,  and  studied  the  rest,  always  slept  well  when 
night  came,  and  be  ready  to  get  up  in  the  morning.  Those  lazy 
flesh-eaters  complained  that  they  could  not  sleep  well  m  the 
night,  and  then  would  remain  in  bed  dozing  all  thu  morning. 
But  the  plain  livers,  who  practiced  lyi  ng  in  bed  no  longer  than 


254  APPENDIX. 

was  necessary  for  sleep,  and  working  and  studying  alternately 
through  the  day,  got  along  well  in  all  respects.  The  time  was 
all  well  employed,  which  is  no  small  matter  to  one  who  wishes 
to  make  all  the  improvement  possible. 

Straw  beds  were  used  by  many  of  the  students,  and  were 
found  to  be  far  superior  to  feathers  in  warm  weather  by  all  who 
tried  them. 

The  doctors  found  but  little  to  do  in  the  seminary,  hardly 
enough  to  support  a  church  mouse. 

Tlie  students  were  most  of  them  a  considerable  distance  from 
home,  and  when  they  got  unwell  they  would  discontinue  study- 
ing, eat  moderately  of  vegetable  fare,  walk  in  the  open  air,  and 
thus  get  cured.  This  letting -alone-plan  was  believed  to  be 
much  better  than  the  drugging  system.  To  sum  up  the  matter, 
those  who  rose  early,  worked  and  exercised  a  good  deal,  and 
lived  on  plain  vegetable  food,  learned  much  more,  and  felt  a 
great  deal  better  than  those  who  lived  in  an  opposite  way ;  and 
the  former  could  quite,  or  nearly,  clear  their  expenses,  while  the 
latter  were  at  a  considerable  expense,  and  learned  less. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  the  young  men.  Concerning  the 
young  ladies  I  knew  less  ;  but  almost  all  of  them  boarded  them- 
selves, cooked  their  own  food,  performed  their  own  washing, 
kept  their  rooms  in  order,  and  walked  frequently  in  the  open 
air.  They  appeared  very  healthy,  and  I  seldom  heard  of  any 
of  them  getting  ill. 

Those  who,  in  obtaining  an  education,  will  take  a  course 
similar  to  that  which  I  have  described,  will  find  that  the  time 
thus  spent  will  ever  afterward  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
most  profitable  and  happy  of  their  whole  lives. 

If  such  a  plan  were  more  generally  adopted  by  those  who 
must  either  go  to  school  cheaply,  or  not  at  all,  there  would  not 
be  so  many  people  as  there  now  are  without  a  good  education. 
Since  such  a  plan  is  so  pleasant  \nd  easy,  the  want  of  money 
is  no  excuse  for  any  one  who  has  health  for  not  attending 
•school. 

C  Hambleton. 

P.  S. — The  Whitestown  Seminary  was  formerly  a  manual 
labor  school,  under  the  able  presidentship  of  the  Rev.  Beriah 
Green,  who  is  himself  an  advocate  of  vegetable  diet.  The 
students  were  then  required  to  work  a  portion  of  each  day ; 
and  it  is  a  good  deal  owing  to  this,  I  suppose,  that  the  students 
still  keep  up  the  habit  since  it  was  changed  from  that  to  the 
present  form.     Besides,  President  Green  is  in  tfee  habit  of  giv- 


APPENDIX.  255 

ing  lectures  in  the  village,  and  sometimes  at  the  seminary,  on 
the  subject  of  health,  and  the  necessity  of  labor,  exercise,  and 
attention  to  diet,  in  order  to  preserve  it. 

C.H. 


CASE  OF  JOHN  BURDELL,  DENTIST,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  Burdell  is  now  forty-four  years  of  age.  He  was  from 
Oneida  County,  State  of  New  York.  He  has  resided  in  this 
city  twenty-two  years,  before  tha<-.  time  always  in  the  country. 
His  parents  lived  a  number  of  miles  distant  from  neighbors,  in 
a  wild  part  of  the  countr}'^,  and  the  occupation  of  the  male 
members  of  the  family  was  clearing  of  land,  farming,  and  agri- 
cultural pursuits  generally.  His  parents  were  comparatively 
healthy.  On  his  father's  side  they  predisposed  to  paralysis ; 
his  mother  died  of  apoplexy.  Mr.  Burdell  ate  plentifully  of 
flesh  meat,  as  was  customary  in  those  times,  but  the  bread  eaten 
was  mostly  of  the  coarser  forms  until  his  coming  to  the  city. 

He  was  always  rather  delicate  in  health ;  had  frequent  sick 
headache  with  nausea ;  was  habitually  costive  ;  and  often  had 
nightmare.  The  first  that  he  ever  went  to  school  was  when 
he  was  sixteen  years  old. 

Mr.  Burdell  has  now  been  engaged  in  dentistry  twenty  years. 
He  lived  about  two  years  as  people  ordinarily  do,  and  then 
commenced  the  "  vegetarian  system,"  using,  however,  a  little 
milk  and  flesh  for  about  one  year.  He  has  not  eaten  flesh 
more  than  three  weeks  in  all  since  that  time,  now  a  period  of 
eighteen  years.  He  has  used  milk  he  judges  not  more  than 
one  year  in  the  aggregate  sin'ie  that  time,  and  then  only  in  a 
slight  quantity  at  intervals. 

On  commencing  the  new  diet  he  could  perceive  that  his 
mind  gradually  became  more  clear.  Sleep  grew  better;  and 
his  strength  of  mind  he  regards  remained  about  the  same. 
Headache  appeared  to  disappear  just  in  proportion  as  animal 
substances  were  given  up ;  and  he  has  not  experienced  this 
affection  in  a  single  instance,  now  several  years.  Constipation, 
from  which  he  had  suffered  from  a  child,  became  very  soon 
removed.  Bodily  strength  was  not  materially  changed.  He 
can  now,  he  judges,  bear  more  exercise  of  any  kind  to  which 
he  is  accustomed  than  ever  before  in  his  hfe.  He  has  for  years 
known  no  such  sensation  as  fatigue ;  and  yet  his  occupation 


256  APPENDIX* 

when  ardently  pursued,  as  in  his  case,  is  a  very  fatiguing  one> 
particularly  for  the  arms,  extremities,  and  head. 

He  has  lived  principally  in  the  city  of  New  York  during  the 
twenty  years  before-mentioned.  Once,  however,  he  was  absent 
about  five  months  on  a  voyage  to  St.  Croix.  Nearly  all  the 
persons  who  went  to  this  island  at  the  time  were  attacked  with 
the  common  fever  of  the  place ;  numbers  also  died.  But  Mr. 
Burdell,  however,  experienced  no  attack  whatever.  He  was 
the  only  vegetarian  he  knew  of  on  the  vessel.  Once  also  he 
made  a  trip  of  some  three  months  to  New  Orleans,  and  the 
southern  states  generally.  He  also  saw  more  or  less  sickness 
at  this  time,  but  experienced  none  himself.  During  both  of 
these  trips  he  lived  on  bread,  rice,  potatoes,  and  fruits,  without 
butter  or  milk. 

During  the  whole  eighteen  years,  Mr.  Burdell  has  practiced 
washing  daily  in  cold  water.  This  rule  has  been  as  constant 
as  that  of  going  to  rest.  His  drink  has  been  only  water,  and 
that  rarely,  as  his  free  use  of  fruits  has  supplied  the  necessary 
amount  of  liquid  to  his  system.  He  has  repeatedly  passed  six 
months  at  a  time  without  tasting  fluid.  He  has  never  tasted 
either  tea  or  coffee,  or  any  hot  drinks  whatever,  since  the  time 
of  commencing  the  vegetarian  experiments.  He  has  also  made 
it  a  rule,  when  possible,  to  sleep  on  a  hard  bed  with  a  hard  pil- 
low. He  has  generally  retired  to  rest  at  nine  o'clock  and  rose 
at  six,  making  nearly  nine  hours  sleep.  He  has  always  walked 
more  or  less  daily  in  the  open  air ;  but  he  regards  that  if  he 
could  have  had  much  more  exercise  than  his  occupation  would 
admit  of,  he  would  have  been  better  off. 

About  eight  years  since,  Mr.  Burdell  after  having  spent  some 
months  in  unpleasant  mental  excitement,  and  ate,  as  he  now 
believes,  too  many  sour  apples,  he  was  attacked  in  the  month 
of  April  with  diarrhoea,  the  first  he  ever  had  after  commencing 
his  new  regimen.  Regarding  homeopathic  practice  the  safest 
that  he  knew  of  at  that  time,  and  having  a  particular  friend,  a 
homeopathic  physician,  in  whom  he  confided,  he  consented  to 
have  him  prescribe,  on  the  condition,  however,  that  no  calomel 
or  mineral  poisons  of  whatever  kind  should  be  administered. 
The  physician,  however,  believing,  doubtless,  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  deceive  him,  administered  both  calomel  and  arsenic, 
and  that  in  no  very  small  quantities.  Moreover,  he  has  reason 
to  believe  that  he  was  over-drugged  by  an  evil-minded  person 
whose  duty  it  was  a  part  of  the  time  to  act  as  nurse.  At  all 
events  the  complaint  became  much  worse,  and  severe  dysentery 
set  in.     This  continued  for  more  than  a  month,  and  he  says 


APPENDIX.  257 

that  the  smell  coming  from  his  body  was  as  bad  fjs  tiiat  of  rats 
poisoned  with  arsenic.  As  soon  as  he  found  that  he  had  been 
taking  calomel  and  arsenic,  he  dismissed  the  practitioner,  and 
declared  he  would  take  no  more  of  his  medicine.  All  of  the 
extremities  became  nearly  powerless,  as  is  common  from  the 
effects  of  arsenic.  It  was  more  than  a  year  before  they  fully 
regained  their  power.  It  was  at  the  time  of  this  illness  that 
he  was  persuaded  to  break  a  little  over  the  rules  to  which  he 
had  been  accustomed.  He  continued  to  use  a  little  beef-steak 
about  two  weeks,  but  became  so  nauseated  and  disgusted  with 
the  flesh  that  he  resolved  never  to  eat  of  it  again.  On  discon- 
tinuing its  use  he  grew  better.  And  substituting  for  it  Indian 
meal  gruel,  bread,  and  the  free  use  of  fruits,  he  grew  rapidly 
better  in  every  respect,  except  the  extremities.  It  was  toward 
two  years  before  his  hmbs  regained  their  full  vigor. 

Since  the  above  illness,  our  subject  has  taken  but  two  meals 
a  day,  morning  and  evening,  never  touching  food  of  any  kind 
between  meals.  Having  experimentally  ascertained  the  quan- 
tity of  nutriment  required  by  him,  he  weighs  or  measures  ac- 
cording to  their  quality  the  amount  for  each  meal,  so  as  to  be 
uniform  in  the  quantity  taken.  His  food  consists  in  summer 
wholly  of  unholded  wheat  bread,  and  fruits  of  all  kinds  as  they 
successively  appear  throughout  the  season.  He  regards  the 
indigenous  as  the  best.  In  winter  his  table  supply  is  made  up 
with  farinaceous,  and  baked  potatoes  and  apples. 

Previously  to  commencing  the  vegetarian  experiments  and 
bathing,  Mr.  Burdell  was  every  winter  subject  to  colds ;  some 
of  which  were  very  severe  upon  the  lungs.  He  repeatedly 
experienced  pulmonary  hemorrhage.  He  has  seldom  been 
troubled  with  symptoms  of  the  kind  since.  He  thinks  taking 
too  much  food,  even  of  the  simplest  kinds,  has  in  some  instances 
caused  him  to  raise  streaks  of  blood. 

His  daily  aliment  consists  now  (September,  1849)  of  brown 
wheaten  bread  sometimes  leavened  and  sometimes  unleavened, 
and  peaches.  He  uses  no  butter,  salt,  nor  spices  of  any 
description.  He  takes  no  alcoholic  or  fermented  liquors,  no 
coffee  or  tea,  and  does  not  now  recollect  when  he  last  took 
milk  or  even  water,  the  juices  of  the  fruits  meeting  and  satisfy- 
ing the  demand  which  is  naturally  much  diminished  by  the 
total  absence  of  animal  food,  salt,  and  spices,  with  the  febrile 
excitement  they  serve  to  produce.  He  not  only  bathes  in  cold 
water  regularly  every  morning  throughout  the  year,  but  sleeps 
with  open  windows  summer  and  winter.  He  has  passed  most 
of  the  days  during  the  present  sickly  season  in  the  city.     Dur- 


258  APPENDIX. 

ing  the  three  chokra  seasons  of  '32,  '34,  and  *49,  he  passed  on 
unharmed.  It  is  many  years  since  he  has  taken  the  slightest 
cold,  or  experienced  the  least  nausea,  headache,  disorder  of 
the  bowels,  or  indisposition  of  any  kind ;  and  for  the  last  seven 
years  has  not  omitted  a  single  meal.  "He  seems,"  says  a 
friend,  "  in  perfect  health,  with  skin  clear  and  mildly  suffused 
with  a  natural  tinge  in  the  place  of  the  bloated  flush  of  drunk- 
enness and  gluttony ;  mind  unclouded  and  active ;  spirits  gentle 
and  cheerful ;  and  conversation  fluent,  easy,  and  instructive. 
Altogether  he  appears  a  very  happy  man.  His  wants,  with  his 
mode  of  life,  are  few,  and  require  very  moderate  ends  to  meet 
them ;  these  are  obtained  by  industry  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
professional  pursuits.  Much  may  be  learned  from  this  case, 
and  the  inference  will  naturally  arise  that  much  sickness,  with 
its  attendant  calamities,  is  superinduced  among  mankind  by 
unintelligent  and  beast-like  indulgence  in  improper  and  perni- 
cious articles  of  food  and  drink." 


7rtx  svD. 


TOBACCO: 


ITS 


HISTORY.  NATURE,  AND  EFFECTS 


ON   THK 


BODY   AND   MIND. 


WITH    THK    OPINIONS   OF 


REV.   DR.   NOTT,   L.   N.  FOWLER,   REV.    HENRY  WARD  BEECHER,  HON.  HORACX 
GREELEY,  DR.  JENNINGS,  O.  S.  FOWLER,  DR,  R.  T.  TRALL,  AND  OTHERS. 


BY  JOEL   SHEW,  M.  D. 

AUTHOR  OF  VARIOUS   WORKS   ON  HYDROPATHV,   OR  THK   -WATEH-CURX 


"  In  no  one  view  is  it  possible  to  contemplate  the  creature  man,  /n  a  more  absurd  and  ridiea 
Cous  light,  than  in  hia  attachment  to  tobacco." — Db.  Rush. 


NEW    YORK: 

FOWLERS   AND    WELLS,    PUBLISHERS, 

CLINTON    HALL,    129    AND    131    NASSAU   STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1349, 

BY  FOWLERS  AND  WELLS, 

in  tliC  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  tlie  Southern  District  of  New  \or'4. 


PREFACE. 


('oNCERNiNG  the  expoiisiveness  of  tobacco,  the  Earl  of  Stanhope 
is  8ai4  to  have  made  the  following  calculation:  Every  professed, 
inveterate,  and  incurable  snufF-taker,  at  a  moderate  computation, 
takes  one  pinch  every  ten  minutes.  Every  pinch,  with  the  agree- 
able ceremony  of  blowing  and  wiping  the  nose,  and  other  incidental 
circumstances,  consumes  a  minute  and  a  half.  One  minute  and  a 
half  out  of  every  ten,  allowing  sixteen  hours  to  a  snuff-taker's  day 
(and  he  always  begins  early  and  keeps  it  up  late),  amounts  to  two 
hours  and  twenty-four  minutes  out  of  every  day,  or  one  day  out 
of  ten.  One  day  out  of  every  ten  amounts  to  thirty-six  and  a 
half  days  in  a  year.  Hence,  if  we  suppose  the  practice  of  forty 
years'  standing,  two  entire  years  of  the  snuff-taker's  life  will  be 
dedicated  to  tickling  his  nose,  and  two  more  to  blowing  it.  The 
expense  of  snuff,  boxes,  and  extra  handkerchiefs  is  another  consid- 
eration, showing  as  great  an  encroachment  on  his  means  as  his  time. 
The  time  and  money  thus  lost  to  society,  if  properly  applied,  would 
furnish  a  fund  sufficient  to  defray  the  national  debt. 

Some  one  has  estimated  the  expensiveness  of  tobacco  in  this 
wise :  Suppose  a  tobacco-chewer  is  addicted  to  the  habit  of  chew- 
ing tobacco  fifty  years  of  his  life,  and  each  day  of  that  time  he  con- 
sumes two  inches  of  solid  plug,  which  amounts  to  six  thousand  and 
seventy-five  feet,  making  nearly  one  mile  and  a  quarter  in  length 
of  solid  tobacco,  half  an  inch  thick  and  two  inches  broad.  What 
would  a  beginner  think  if  he  had  the  whole  amount  stretched  out 
before  him,  and  ne  were  told  that  to  chew  it  up  would  be  one  of 
the  exercises  of  his  life,  and  also  that  it  would  tax  his  income  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  two  thousand  dollars  ?  Query  Would  he 
undertake  it  all  ? 


IV  PREFACE. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  there  are  aoout  four  hundred  thou 
sand  inhabitants.  About  one  half  of  the  population  is  males.  Of 
these  we  will  suppose  that  one  fourth  of  the  number  smoke  cigars. 
On  an  average  we  will  suppose  these  smokers  to  consume  three 
cigars  each,  or,  for  example,  ten  cents'  worth  per  day.  This 
amounts,  then,  to  no  less  than  Jive  thousand  dollars^  worth  of 
cigars  used  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  a  single  day !  We  will 
suppose  that  there  is  also  about  as  much  more  used  in  pipes, 
by  chewing  and  by  snuffing.  There  would  then  be  consumed  in 
the  city  of  New  York  one  million  eight  hundred  and  twenty-Jive 
thousand  dollars^  worth  of  tobacco  in  a  single  year  J 

Let  us  make  an  estimate  for  a  poor  man.  Here  are  multitudes 
of  such,  who  have  hard  work,  year  by  year,  to  obtain  the  bread 
they  eat.  Almost  all  of  these  men  are  inveterate  chewers  of  to- 
bacco. We  wiirsuppose  they  use  the  cheapest  and  most  miserable 
kinds  of  the  weed.  At  a  low  estimate  each  man  uses  five  dollars' 
worth  per  year,  which  is  only  a  little  over  a  single  cent's  worth  per 
day.  This,  in  the  space  of  forty  years,  when  reckoned,  principal 
and  interest,  would  amount  to  a  sum  that  would  be  very  conve- 
nient to  a  poor  old  man  when  his  hairs  have  grown  gray. 

The  expensiveness  of  tobacco,  then,  is  a  very  important  consid- 
eration— important  to  the  poor  man,  the  rich  man,  the  p^dilanthro- 
pist,  and  the  Christian.  But  there  is  yet  a  far  more  important  con- 
sideration— I  mean  that  which  relates  to  health.  If  a  man  has 
once  lost  this  best  of  all  earthly  blessings,  what  would  he  not  give 
could  it  be  again  restored  to  him  ?  -  All  the  gold  and  silver  and  pre- 
cious metals  the  world  has  ever  produced,  or  can  ever  produce, 
bear  no  comparison  to  the  value  of  health. 

The  tobacco  habit  is  every  where  increasing  in  public  favor.  It 
is  hardly  genteel  not  to  be  able  to  smoke.  Looking  at  the  habits  of 
those  about  us,  we  may  well  regard  them  as  addressing  the  "  Great 
Plant  :" 

'  Scent  to  match  thy  rich  perfume, 
Chymic  art  did  ne'er  presume, 
Through  her  quaint,  alembic  strain, 
None  60  sovereign  to  tho  brain. 
Nature,  that  did  in  theo  excel, 
Framed  no  second  smeU. 


PREFACE.  % 

Roses,  violets,  but  toys 
For  the  smaller  sort  of  boys, 
Or  for  greener  damsels  meant; 
Thou  art  the  only  manly  scent'- 

We  Americans  are  in  some  respects  a  peculiar  people.  We 
cannot  be  said  to  be  miserly,  yet  we  outdo  the  nations  in  money- 
making  and  general  thrift.  We  go  faster  in  our  steamboats,  build 
better  ships,  do  more  hard  work,  eat  more  food,  and  in  a  shorter 
time,  than  any  nation  on  the  foce  of  the  globe.  So,  too,  in  other 
things.  We  use  more  tea  and  coffee,  drink  more  spirits,  and  be- 
come gi'eater  drunkards.  So  also  we  use  more  tobacco.  But  we 
cannot  be  at  the  ti'ouble  of  smoking  when  we  lie  down,  when  wo 
rise  up,  and  through  the  whole  day,  as  the  Germans  do.  Nor  can 
we  be  satisfied  in  taking  up  so  much  of  our  time  as  the  French  and 
English  in  snuffing.  Two  and  a  half  hours'  time  out  of  each 
twenty-four,  in  snuffing,  sneezing,  and  blowing  one's  nose,  does  not 
accord  with  the  American  notions  of  industry.  The  American 
must  do  two  things  at  a  time.  He  can  saw  wood,  or  plow,  or  hoe 
corn,  at  the  same  time  while  he  is  chewing  a  good  "cud"  of  tobac- 
co. He  can,  if  need  be,  plead  before  a  jury,  or  preach  a  sermon, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  holds  the  precious  bolus  in  one  side  of 
his  mouth.  Besides,  by  the  habit  of  chewing,  more  is  made  out 
of  the  thing,  more  is  accomplished  in  a  given  time,  more  of  the 
strength  of  the  tobacco  is  obtained,  and  the  system  is  more  com- 
pletely saturated  with  it.  Chewing  is  emphatically  the  American 
habit.  The  American  can  smoke,  snuff,  and  plug  his  nose  with 
tobacco  ;  but  all  that  is  not  enough — ^he  must  chew. 

But  what  says  hydropathy  to  all  this  ?  What  says  physiology  ? 
What  the  science  of  health  ?  Moreover,  what  says  political  econ- 
omy, common  morality,  and  even  decency  itself?  Why,  plainly 
and  emphatically,  "  Touch  not  the  unclean  thing."  It  is  a  more 
than  beastly  practice ;  and,  as  the  couplet  hath  it, 

"  Great  men  and  green  worms  will  use  their  tobacco, 
But  ne'er  a  pig  nor  his  wife ;  ah !  alack,  O  I" 

Tobacco  is  a  good  medicine,  doubtless,  in  its  proper  place ;  a 
powerful  means  of  good  in  certain  rare  emergencies,  although  in 


Vi  PREFACE. 

those  even  there  are  probably  better.     Bit  as  a  thing  of  daily  and 
general  use,  it  is  an  abominable  drug. 

But  one  thing  may  appear  singular  to  the  reader :  1  have  written 
this  little  work  with  the  expectation  of  changing  the  habits  of  only 
a  few.  One  might  at  first  think  that  a  book  which  should  in  a  tol- 
erable degree  set  forth  the  gi-eat  evils  of  tobacco,  would  necessarily 
be  the  means  of  reforming  multitudes  of  foolish  men.  But  it  is 
not  so.  All  that  the  philanthropist,  the  physician,  and  the  priest 
can  accomplish  with  those  who  have  become  addicted  to  the  use 
of  tobacco,  is  but  as  a  sand  on  the  sea-shore,  or  a  drop  amid  the 
wide  ocean.  Now  and  then  only  a  man,  such  acs  John  Quincy 
Adams,  or  the  reverend  and  venerable  Doctor  Nott,  can  be  found 
of  self-denial  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  cleanse  his  system  of  the 
disgusting,  abominable,  and  life-destroying  habit  of  using  tobacco. 
Often  enough  we  can  succeed  in  convincing  a  man's  judgment ; 
we  can  get  him  for  a  time  to  leave  off  his  bad  habit.  But  in  a 
short  time — a  few  months  at  most — we  find  that  he  has  again 
slunk  back  into  his  old  career  of  misery,  disease,  and  death. 

If,  then,  by  this  work,  I  shall  be  the  means  of  warning  the  un- 
initiated, and  such  as  desire  light,  on  an  important  subject,  and  thus 
of  keepiijg  them  out  of  a  most  evil  habit,  I  shall  not  have  spent  my 
efforts  in  vain. 

J.  S. 

New  York,  1849 


^^hm^^^:r'i^^^mm^j?^^-^^^  :w^^^fr^ 


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